For Australian psychologists, this article delves into the inadequacy of standard hearing tests for a comprehensive assessment. Understand how sensation and perception differ, and why only measuring the former misses vital aspects of auditory processing. Enhance your practice by recognising how these limitations affect a patient's ability to function in everyday auditory environments.
How much can be deduced from conventional hearing tests, and why are they not sufficient in an assessment of an individual's overall hearing?
As a psychologist, it's really interesting to hear Natanya discuss this, as she distinguishes between ideas which are familiar to all health professionals interested in how the brain works: those of sensation and perception.
Sensation refers to the process of sensing our surrounding environment through the 5 senses: touch, taste, sight, sound and smell. This information is sent to our brains in a raw form, where the process of perception begins. Perception is the way we interpret sensations, and make sense of the world around us.
While an individual might perform well on an audiogram or a simple hearing test, this test only tells us about the individual's capacity to register and sense the auditory stimulus, but not the process of interpreting this stimulus. In addition and relevant to Central Auditory Processing Disorder, conventional hearing tests do not tell us about the capacity of the individual to effectively hear and listen in a noisy environment, and to function effectively in the real auditory world.
Watch the clip below for a perspective from clinical audiologist Natanya Berry. If you're interested in her CEU-accredited talk on CAPD, its assessment and treatment, you can find it here.
-Leanne