Miguel Assal, emergency technician: "You're not deaf, but you may have auditory processing disorder."

Listening well but not understanding what is being said may seem like a contradiction, but it could be due to a little-known neurological disorder: auditory processing disorder (APD). This is how emergency medical technician Miguel Assal explained it, warning through his social media that "it affects one in 20 people, and many don't even know it."

“You're not deaf, but you may have auditory processing disorder. You hear well, but you don't process information well. Your brain loses information quickly ,” Assal explains in one of his videos. Through a recreation of everyday life, the healthcare professional illustrates how a person with this disorder can hear a sentence perfectly, but be unable to understand it or react quickly.

This disorder, also called central auditory processing disorder, occurs when the problem isn't in the ears , but in the way the brain interprets sounds. As the Mayo Clinic explains, it can affect both children and older adults and, in many cases, goes unnoticed for years, being mistaken for absent-mindedness, inattention, or even poor manners.

Keys to recognizing this disorder

Signs of APD can be subtle but recurrent. These include difficulty identifying where a sound is coming from, trouble understanding what is being said in noisy environments, or frequently needing things repeated. It's also common for those affected to take longer to respond to a conversation or have difficulty understanding jokes, puns, or sarcasm.

Assal emphasizes that this disorder is common in people with ADHD, although he clarifies that it's not exclusive to those who suffer from it. "You don't have to have ADHD to have BPD," he emphasizes. For this reason, you should pay attention to behaviors such as slowness to react, difficulty following spoken instructions, or a lack of understanding of certain audio messages.

Detecting auditory processing disorder requires a specialized clinical evaluation. Symptoms can easily be confused with other conditions, such as traditional hearing loss, autism, or even learning disabilities. However, APD is a specific condition and requires a specific, often multidisciplinary approach that may include speech therapy, audiology, and educational support.

Experts emphasize the importance of not underestimating these signs, as their impact on daily life can be significant. In school, work, or social settings, those suffering from this disorder may face comprehension problems, lack of motivation, and even isolation if the real causes of their difficulty processing what they hear are not identified.