reMediation of sPatial ProCessing issues in Central auditory ProCessing disorder

spatial Processing When we are trying to listen to speech in noisy environments, auditory processes in the brain help us to focus on the person we want to hear while simultaneously suppressing competing sounds coming from different locations. The target speech appears to pop out from the competition , so to speak. The technical term for this process is spatial release from masking — or spatial processing — and it allows us to take in the vital information we need to be able to comprehend speech and participate in conversations. But what if we didn't have this ability? What if we when we were listening to speech in noise nothing seemed to pop out, but instead all we could hear was a jumble of sounds? We would most likely fail to hear key information, limiting our ability to communicate effectively. This is exactly what happens to children and adults with spatial processing disorder (SPD). In this chapter we discuss how spatial processing assists in communication and the underlying mechanisms involved. We also discuss how deficits in spatial processing ability impact listeners, particularly children who, despite normal hearing thresholds and cognitive ability, have difficulty understanding speech in the classroom when background noise is present. Difficulty understanding speech when there is competing speech or other types of background noise is a commonly reported symptom of central auditory processing disorder (CAPD)