There are a variety of problems that have been associated with central auditory processing disorders. These disorders usually stem from some type of central lesion or improper connections between the auditory mechanism of the "temporal lobe and other motor, sensory, or integrating areas of the brain" (Mencher, Gerber, and McCombe, 1992). There will be differences in behavior as a function of the areas that are damaged, to what extent they are damaged, and what age, or stage in development, the lesion occurs.

"For an auditory stimulus to be meaningful, there must be an intact auditory perceptual system that transmits, processes, stores, and retrieves information provided by the peripheral hearing mechanism." This system allows individuals to descriminate between sounds and identify

Individuals suffering with acoustic verbal agnosia are, "usually or frequently voluble and euphoric, the natural inhibition apparently having been removed." These individuals are also unable to "check-up on their errors." Thus, these people "frequently use a wrong or unintended words" and thus, their speech can consist mainly of jargon." Oddly enough, "their syntax and grammar are little disturbed" (Nielson, 1962).

"This was a man aged 65 who, after a cerebrovascular illness, was unable to understand familiar sounds such as coughing, the mewing of a cat, whistling, the crying of a child, the gurgling of water, and the ticking of a clock. He made many mistakes when asked to distinguish two pure tones of different pitch" (Nielson, 1962).

To identify auditory agnoisa it is important to first determine if a loss of hearing is present. An audiologist may administer a number of hearing evaluations to make this determination. The audiologist can use a bone conduction audiogram to determine whether the patient has normal sensory-neural hearing. After determining average hearing, an analysis of the patient's ability to process verbal stimuli will be assessed. These stimuli include distortions of verbal signals. "Distortions are accomplished by altering the signals through filtering, speeding them up, slowing them down, competing with them, alternating them between ears, or delaying their normal feedback rate to the patients ears. The patient with a central auditory lesion will have difficulty processing any or all of these combinations, depending on the type, extent, and location of the lesion" (Mencher, Gerber, and McCombe, 1997).

One doctor's description of his patient included the following, "The patient can not understand anything that is said to him, nor can he repeat the words." He then went on to say, "Reading to oneself or out loud is normal. There is no disturbance of writing except that of writing diction" (Nielson, 1962).

Auditory association is perhaps the most important area of auditory functioning. This is the ability to relate meaning to particular environmental sounds or spoken words. Thus, if an individual loses this ability, they will not be able to understand speech. In addition to this, the individual "will be unable to relate a combination of specific sound

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