Clinical and Translational Research in Auditory Processing Disorder

Dear Colleagues,

Auditory processing disorder (APD), also known as central auditory dysfunction or King–Kopetzky syndrome, affects 2%–7% of children. It has been reported that 20% of adults would have at least some form of APD. Prevalence reaches 40% in children with learning difficulties, leading to major psychological, academic, and socio-professional repercussions. APD was first described almost a century ago. While pure-tone air and bone-conduction audiometry may be normal, APD results in persistent difficulties in understanding speech whenever faced with acoustically challenging environments: patients’ attention cannot be selectively directed to verbal stimuli and this difficulty worsens in case of concomitant exposure to background noise. Diagnostic procedures should include behavioral techniques to assess the subject's ability to binaurally separate and integrate relevant information. Psychophysical methods should also be used to evaluate temporal integration as well as acoustic pattern discrimination abilities. Today, APD is thought to result from abnormal neural connectivity along the auditory pathway, from the cochlea to the auditory cortex and vice versa, suggesting that both bottom-up and top-down processes involved in auditory perception would be damaged.

This Special Issue aims to provide the reader with a state-of-the-art overview of APD and related comorbidities. This covers research on the pathophysiology of APD, innovative diagnostic procedures, and therapeutic strategies compatible with a personalized-medicine-based approach. The submission of translational research work carried out to benefit the patient is also strongly encouraged.

Prof. Dr. Hung Thai-Van
Guest Editor

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