From the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

"Okay, class, before you open your science book to page 95 for the next lesson, get out your homework from yesterday, and put it in the right hand corner of your desk for me to review; then we'll be ready to start." 

Ron takes out his social studies book and stares into space. Why didn't Ron follow the teacher's directions? Not listening? Distracted? Not paying attention? Poor conduct? Hearing loss? Any of these explanations is possible. Or maybe Ron hears the sound, but has a problem processing or understanding what is said to him particularly when the language used is complex, spoken rapidly, or is lengthy, and when there's a lot to look at and lots of noise around him. 

The inability to understand spoken language in a meaningful way in the absence of what is commonly considered a hearing loss is called a central auditory processing problem. A speech-language pathologist can evaluate a child's perception of speech and his/her receptive (understanding) and expressive (production) language use.

Frank Musiek, audiologist and researcher in this area, has described central auditory processing as, "How well the ear talks to the brain, and how well the brain understands what the ear tells it."

Link to March 30, 2004 ASHA Leader article entitled, "Redefining Auditory Processing Disorder; An Audiologist's Perspective"