adhd and auditory processing disorder in adults

ADHD AND AUDITORY PROCESSING DISORDER IN ADULTS SERIES

Intervention should be undertaken immediately once evidence from behavioral and/or electrophysiological tests demonstrate deficits in the CANS sufficient to diagnose CAPD. The information must be collected from a thorough review of the patient's medical, educational, and developmental background, as behavioral and electrophysiological tests in conjunction with relevant imaging and assessment of speech, language, and cognition. Therefore, to diagnose CAPD effectively, a multidisciplinary team approach that considers other parameters such as cognition, memory, and linguistics should be employed. Problems with the CANS may be isolated or associated with conditions that interact with other sensorimotor modalities and/or higher-level cognitive functions. To diagnose CAPD, a battery of auditory diagnostic tests examines the integrity of the CANS. This list is not exhaustive, and there is significant symptomatic overlap with the aforementioned learning disorders, e.g., ADHD. Inability to follow complex commands or directions Reading, spelling, and learning difficulties Longer response times in oral communication These include:ĭifficulty in understanding language in noisy backgrounds or when words are presented rapidly Clinically, CAPD presents in young children as behavioral characteristics. However, CAPD can affect adults of all ages, as there are multiple etiologies, including cerebrovascular disease, malignancy, and neurotoxicity. The auditory system is highly interconnected with ascending, descending, and crossing fibers that enable higher-order functions from the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, limbic circuits, etc., to connect directly or indirectly with the auditory system, giving rise to our perception and understanding of auditory information.ĬAPD is primarily a condition that affects children and is highly prevalent in patients with diagnoses of learning difficulties such as dyslexia, attention deficit disorder (ADHD), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

ADHD AND AUDITORY PROCESSING DISORDER IN ADULTS SERIES

There is also a series of descending neuronal circuits within the auditory system, which allows for the modulation of auditory processing at multiple levels. There are several levels of crossing fibers throughout the brainstem, allowing both ipsilateral and contralateral signals to contribute to the many aspects of auditory processing. A series of nuclei transmit the information to the cortex for the perception of sound to occur: the cochlear nucleus, the superior olivary nuclei, the lateral meniscus, the inferior colliculus, and the medial geniculate nuclei.

Auditory information reaches the cochlear nucleus from the peripheral auditory system via the auditory nerve. The CANS extends from the cochlear nucleus in the brainstem to the auditory cortex. Patients with CAPD tend to have normal outer, middle, and inner ear anatomy with preserved function however, they have deficits in the neural processing of auditory stimuli that are not due to cognitive or higher-order language pathology. Disruption of this process will result in deficits in speech perception, sound localization, auditory discrimination, and temporal characterization of sounds.Ĭentral auditory processing disorder (CAPD) is a condition that primarily affects the CANS. Central auditory processing (CAP) is the ability to perceptually receive stimuli within the central auditory nervous system (CANS) and conduct the subsequent neurobiological activities that give rise to the electrophysiological auditory action potentials.

Adhd and auditory processing disorder in adults