What is auditory neuropathy?

Auditory neuropathy is a hearing disorder in which sound enters the inner ear normally but the transmission of signals and the processing of those signals in the brain from the inner ear may be abnormal. It can affect people of all ages, from infancy through adulthood. The number of people affected by auditory neuropathy is not known, but the condition may affect a relatively large percentage of children who are deaf or hearing-impaired.

People with auditory neuropathy may have normal hearing, fluctuating hearing or hearing loss ranging from mild to severe; they always have poor speech-perception abilities, meaning they have trouble understanding speech clearly. Often, speech perception is worse than would be predicted by the degree of hearing loss. For example, a person with auditory neuropathy may be able to hear sounds, but would still have difficulty recognizing spoken words. Sounds may fade in and out for these individuals and seem out of sync.

---

Reviewed by: Jack Wolfsdorf, MD, FAAP

This page was last updated on: 1/29/2019 3:21:13 PM