CAPD terminology (Audi says I'm "hearing impaired.")

Got my test results back from the audiologist today. (Took a while due to the holiday break and some billing silliness.) Thought I'd add it to this thread instead of getting a whole new one to share these bits, especially since I'd love for some of the biology/audiology geeks from earlier in this thread to help me understand what some of this stuff means. :)

My diagnosis is officially "central hearing impairment," with some specific bits of information: "Auditory figure-ground confusions and difficulty suppressing unwanted background sounds of even mild-to-moderate intensity" and "Poor short term auditory and rote memory systems" alongside some borderline findings of "slow or inaccurate exchange/integration of auditory and visual information" and "inefficient integration of language perceptions form the two hemispheres."

My pure tone test results show normal hearing in the right ear and a mild 25db loss in the left ear above 8,000 Hz. I have excellent speech discrimination without noise present, but with noise present, my comprehension drops well outside of the normal range. Speech discrimination in noise tested at 44% left/56% right, where 64% is apparently the lowest "normal" value for this. My binaural fusion test was abnormal by 3 standard deviations for the right ear, and I was also abnormal by 3 standard deviations for the Staggered Spondaic Word test I was abnormal by 1.5 standard deviations in the left ear for Dichotic Competing Sentences and both ears in Willeford's filtered speech/words, indicating borderline abnormal functioning.

She states that these findings are "consistent with a central auditory processing disorder, as suggested by abnormal findings on tests considered sensitive to brain stem level auditory system dysfunction (consistent with the history of hypoxia)"

The rest of my auditory system tests within the normal range.
 
I didn't really start talking until I was about 4. My sister used to speak for me. Growing up, I was always quite solitary. I was a timid little thing who oddly talked non-stop, but never listened well. I was labelled "easily distracted", but that is usually because, a couple of sentences into someone else's dialogue and I'd just zone out. I actually did quite well in various subjects at school, though I was late to learn to read (a trait in CAPD sufferers). Eventually, I taught myself to write software and I now do this for a living, writing high end stuff for companies all round the world. Quite lucky, really. It works for me because I don't have to talk to anyone... I just type all day.

My point is, I never showed any signs of asbergers, though perhaps I showed quite a few autistic symptoms :) but, being quite a naturally outgoing person, I guess I came across more as being a dreamer and, as I said earlier, prone to distraction. Now that I know all about CAPD, though, I wonder how none of my teachers (or parents) could work out it was hearing related all along.

I have to say, though, that some of my CAPD symptoms seem more prevalent now that I'm older. I get stressed by sounds a lot more. On the other hand, I've mostly mastered my phobia of telephones :) Now, I know I come across a little stupid when I say the wrong thing to questions or pause for awkward periods of time... I just don't care what the other person thinks about that.
 
Lazarus404 said:
Growing up, I was always quite solitary. I was a timid little thing who oddly talked non-stop, but never listened well. I was labelled "easily distracted", but that is usually because, a couple of sentences into someone else's dialogue and I'd just zone out.
Click to expand...

I was the same way. I talked all the time to everyone else, especially about things I was interested in. But if people talked to me about things they liked, I "ignored" them. Because, of course, I couldn't understand them that well.

I actually did quite well in various subjects at school, though I was late to learn to read (a trait in CAPD sufferers). Eventually, I taught myself to write software and I now do this for a living, writing high end stuff for companies all round the world. Quite lucky, really. It works for me because I don't have to talk to anyone... I just type all day.
Click to expand...

LOL! I'm a software engineer, too! I work in user interfaces for TV and media consumption. I did excellent in school and apparently didn't have any problems learning to read. I think. Given the fact that I have CAPD, I've wondered how that all happened. Really, most of my problems seem to be social. I have historically had trouble socializing in big groups.

(snip) Now that I know all about CAPD, though, I wonder how none of my teachers (or parents) could work out it was hearing related all along.
Click to expand...

DITTO! I asked my dad about it and he, to my face, said, "You never showed any signs of a hearing problem." Then proceeded to tell me all about how I would never stop to listen to what other people had to say and other stuff like that.

I have to say, though, that some of my CAPD symptoms seem more prevalent now that I'm older. I get stressed by sounds a lot more. On the other hand, I've mostly mastered my phobia of telephones :) Now, I know I come across a little stupid when I say the wrong thing to questions or pause for awkward periods of time... I just don't care what the other person thinks about that.
Click to expand...

I'm still working on the telephone phobia. I need to get comfortable using captioned telephone services, and I should be okay. I also take more command of conversations, and when I realize that I'm having trouble understanding a person, I let them know about my CAPD and start asking for repeats and stuff. That alone has been a huge help in my development and changes.

I'm curious what sort of CAPD you have and how you were diagnosed.
 
What TV work have you done? I've completed several projects with the BBC, as well as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and a number of animation companies. Currently, I'm CTO for a streaming media company. We do Cloud based systems. I change roles quite frequently from animator to hard core developer, but my current role is as a client side JavaScript developer / server applications architect (Joyant related projects, etc).

I haven't fully been diagnosed, yet, so don't know what kind I have. I did visit a neurologist, but he was more inclined to suggest aspergers. At the time, I simply figured he just didn't understand (he didn't seem to have heard of CAPD before), but now, since investigating aspergers, I'm starting to see patterns there, too, so I'm going to see another neurologist about that. If I have aspergers, I'm pretty sure it's mild, but CAPD is very common with aspergers cases, so it would make sense.

From a condition perspective, I have pretty much every described symptom of CAPD with the exception of being illiterate. I managed to rid myself of that issue in primary school. However, I can't speed read; only at a pace that matches a spoken translation of the text. All the other symptoms like not being able to understand clearly heard sentences, mishearing words and sentences, not being able to differentiate sounds, finding noise stressful etc. etc., are all there.

I was the same way. I talked all the time to everyone else, especially about things I was interested in. But if people talked to me about things they liked, I "ignored" them. Because, of course, I couldn't understand them that well.
Click to expand...

That is a big aspergers give-away. Maybe you have it mildly, too? There are different levels of it. Many with aspergers are very high functioning, like Steven Spielberg and Dan Aykroyd. Also, it's believed Einstein had it, so it's something that many people who feel mostly normal and highly achieving can and do have.

There's a test on this site that helps determine the likelihood of having it.

I'm currently on a big 'fact finding' mission to work out my neural issues, so I can plan steps to overcoming them. It causes issues in my relationships and my work can occasionally be affected by it, so I'm hoping if I can find out how to bypass these issues, I can achieve more quickly and have a better relationship with my wife and children.

Fingers crossed.
 
Last edited:
Interesting, my good friend just learned that her daughter has CAPD. She is very upset about it and worried about her future. I told her that I know couple of capd on line and seems to be doing very well. SO her daughter gets help from school by having FM and takes speech therapy. GREAT. She knows ASL due to her Deaf parents. So it just dawns on me and told her to try to apply for SSI to see if SSI can help to cover the fees for her daughter to attend to take speech therapy and more tools that is necessary. She is going to find out due to depending on how much household incomes they have if kid is eligible for SSI or not. any suggest for more helps?? Thanks!
 
This has been a really interesting thread to read through. I was recently diagnosed with an APD, and stumbled onto this thread because I was wondering the exact same thing joycem was. Really glad this discussion is here!
 
Wirelessly posted

Simply put - tell people 'my hearing is messed up'?
 
Last edited:
Wirelessly posted

joycem137 said:
BecLak said:
Wirelessly posted

Simply put - tell people 'my hearing is messed up'?
Click to expand...

Eh, but then people make assumptions about what I can/can't hear, and it's all weird and stuff.
Click to expand...

I get faced with the same problem because I grew up oral, so people assume I can hear. I am severely-deaf, can only hear low tones and vowels. I don't explain all of that to everyone I meet. I just make it clear how they are to communicate with me and that's it. No manner of explanation is going to sink in on first meeting anyway.
 
joycem137 said:
But add noise, even just a little bit, and my comprehension of speech starts to drop rapidly. I start hearing words as meaningless jumbles of noises that don't make any sense. "Let's go to the car wash" could reach my ears as "Leshoaaaassh"
Click to expand...

Uh oh.. this is exactly my problem too...

My husband would joke at me to clean the wax out of my ears and stuff at first. :giggle:

I thought it was just part of who I was, or that I was just a side-effect of dabbling in lots of different languages (at the time, I was trying out Spanish, Russian, French, Mandarin, German, and Tagalog as a hobby... I was about to go to Montreal for a couple weeks, I hung out on game servers with players who only spoke tagalog or mandarin, a close friend of mine at the time was a German/Russian/English speaker, and Spanish was often used at my work).

But a couple years back I started feeling pressure in my ears, so I talked to my allergy doctor, who referred me to an ear doctor. Before I met with my doctor, I suspected that maybe I was going deaf since I already had problems understanding what people said sometimes.

The ear doctor did a hearing test, said my hearing was within a normal range, and prescribed a nasal spray for my malfunctioning Eustachian Tube (he said it regulates pressure behind the ear drum between the nose and the ear, and guessed that my allergies was causing them to act up).

The spray wasn't all that effective (there's still pressure on my eardrums), but more importantly, my comprehension is still pretty bad if there is other noises while people are talking... I think it has gotten worse but I think I am coping with it better by changing my lifestyle too. It's hard to quantify...

Just yesterday, my husband was saying something to me from downstairs, and by the time I processed what he said, I was left with "Donut warewolf male". He meant to relay "Do you know where I put the mail?".

We're getting better at communicating (from studying ASL, we've learned the amazing benefits of actually being within sight before trying to talk or sign to each other) but outside the house, things are still tough.

ASL instills lots of good communication habits: Reading body language, facial expressions, being within range of sight (no more shouting in the house :laugh2:), organizing speech in logical sequential patterns, good lighting, good eye contact, etc. etc. etc. so I think learning ASL is definitely a positive thing to do to develop good coping mechanisms AND good social skills.

I do go everywhere with some scrap paper.
If I need directions I have to draw a map because I can't remember anything past two or three directions.

Restaurants are stressful for me because I have to ask the waiter to repeat what they said 3, 4 times. Often I will just tell someone I know to order what I want for me or point to a simple item.

Phones are especially tough for me. The phone never seems loud enough or clear enough for me to make out what words are being said unless I have a very good idea about what is going to be discussed.
I don't know how other people are able to talk on their phones in bars or on the street when there are cars and other noises happening. All I hear on my phone in those situations is really similar to how the teacher in The Peanuts sounds like: Wonk wa-wonk wonk wonk wonk.

Dialogue in movies become incomprehensible when a fast paced background music kicks in. Or if the actor has an accent I don't know... uh oh.

I could go on and on about all kinds of other situations, but you are probably already very familiar with a lot of these.

I'm really hoping that my issue is audio processing and not some kind of problem in language processing. I'm studying ASL because I want to test myself to see if this is the case. If it's a language processing problem I predict I'll have the same issues in ASL... though I can't determine how it would manifest (I will see signs I know that I know I know, but can't recall the abstract meaning?).

In any case, I just wanted to say that you aren't alone at all!
Also, I'm curious how you were diagnosed. It's hard to explain what is going on, since like you said, it is not the same as being unable to hear the sounds: it's a matter of being able to make heads or tails out of what was heard. Since my audiologist told me my hearing was within normal range I assumed that what I was experiencing was normal....
 
I also have APD (aka CAPD) and was wondering if someone with APD is considered to be apart of the Deaf Community. I was also wondering if someone with the disorder is able to give others (and/or themselves) a Sign Name since they have a 'physical hearing impairment' and (as a rule of Sign Naming) only those who are 'Deaf' can give a Sign Name to someone. If I were to give a friend a Sign Name would that be inappropriate?
 
If you find it easier to sign than to strain your brain trying to understand what people are saying, then it makes sense. I still haven't started learning signing yet, but my wife is pushing me to. My APD is our biggest relationship issue (most peoples are money related). I wish I could just understand her... Or, at the least, remember what she said, when I do understand, more than three minutes after I understood it.
 
Ryssie said:
I also have APD (aka CAPD) and was wondering if someone with APD is considered to be apart of the Deaf Community. I was also wondering if someone with the disorder is able to give others (and/or themselves) a Sign Name since they have a 'physical hearing impairment' and (as a rule of Sign Naming) only those who are 'Deaf' can give a Sign Name to someone. If I were to give a friend a Sign Name would that be inappropriate?
Click to expand...

Name Signs are given by CULTURALLY Deaf (capital D) individuals who are fluent in the Signed Language of that area (ASL for example).

Just because you can't hear, doesn't make you culturally Deaf (any more than visiting Italy makes you Italian).

Get involved with the Deaf community, learn ASL and then at some point you may or may not get a name sign (my name's so short I've never had one - because it's just as easy to spell).

I hope that helps ?
 
Anij said:
Name Signs are given by CULTURALLY Deaf (capital D) individuals who are fluent in the Signed Language of that area (ASL for example).

Just because you can't hear, doesn't make you culturally Deaf (any more than visiting Italy makes you Italian).

Get involved with the Deaf community, learn ASL and then at some point you may or may not get a name sign (my name's so short I've never had one - because it's just as easy to spell).

I hope that helps ?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. I am actually practicing ASL every day and am going to college for it to become fluent. Plus I've taken summer courses, but yes, I will get more involved with the Deaf community this year. I have other friends who also sign with me as well. Thanks again for the clarification!
 
Back
Top