Central Auditory Processing Disorder Management

Management of Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)

The rationale for providing intervention is based on studies that have looked at Central Auditory Nervous System neural (nerve) firing before and after intervention. Results of this research support the notion that auditory training improves listening.


Management of CAPD can be undertaken by children, adolescents and adults. Targets are based on the outcomes of one’s assessment and may include working on some or all the following areas:

  1. capd-aidAuditory training and noise acclimatisation – we use low level background noise to simulate listening conditions where there is a competing signal. We use sound, word, phrase and sentence stimuli. The aim of this task is for the client to improve their ability to direct attention to a spoken message, acclimatise to competing noise, discriminate information more efficiently and improve their accuracy and speed of processing.
  2. Dichotic listening – in this task, we encourage multi-task listening using headphones. We use sound, word, phrase and sentence stimuli. The aim of this task is for one to improve their ability to direct their attention to a specific stimuli, separate information supplied to both ears or integrate separate information provided to both ears at the same time.
  3. Pitch Discrimination and Pitch Pattern Perception – In this task, one is required to identify and differentiate (discriminate) different tones (e.g. high versus low tones or loud versus soft tones) and speech sounds (i.e. words that sound similar but have a different stress pattern).
  4. Short-term Auditory Memory (STAM) – In this task, one is required to repeat number, syllable, word, phrase and/or sentence information (e.g. following directions) using specific cues and strategies.
  5. Auditory closure – In this task, one is required to fill in gaps of missing information. Stimuli include words, predictable and unpredictable sentences.
  6. Literacy – The areas of phonological awareness (i.e. manipulation of sounds e.g. rhyming, blending, segmentation, sound identification and sound deletion), reading and spelling are targeted. In particular, sound discrimination (spoken and written level) is targeted.
  7. Language – Processing auditory information on a language level is targeted using an array of tasks (e.g. visualizing a short story and answering questions relating to the story or identifying a key word or idea in a spoken paragraph).