Hi Stimuli subscribers. Today I'm going to talk about auditory processing disorder, or APD, as it's otherwise known, which is a fairly prevalent problem in people with ADHD. It's believed that about 5% of school aged children have some type of APD, and there's a high prevalence in children with learning difficulties, the APD is found in anything up to 43%. It's estimated around 50% of children with ADHD have auditory processing disorder and research also indicates that up to 70% of individuals with dyslexia have coexisting auditory processing disorder. So there is absolutely this sort of crossover in the neurodivergent world, ADHD, ASD and also, you know, with dyslexia, but also, you know, with just auditory processing difficulties.It's not particularly easy to treat. But I'll talk a little bit more about that in a minute. First, really, I just want to sort of talk about what that is. I mean, I think different people will report different experiences. Anecdotally, I can tell you that it affects me a great deal, especially having young children, and there are certain places that I find it worse. So if I were in a bar, a pub, or a restaurant, for example, I would be very distracted by noises around me, the clinking of cutlery and plates and conversations by the family behind me, which makes it very, very difficult for me to focus on the conversation.It feels to me like someone's stretching my brain to that place where I heard the sound. And it's like it's stretching me away from what I want to be focused on. That's kind of how it feels to me anyway. But I'm sure many of you have your own idiosyncratic experiences. Sharp, loud, screeching noises made by young children, I find almost like daggers in my head at times, and I recently started wearing earplugs at times, certainly around key times of the day. And yeah, it can affect me a great deal, I'd say the worst place is driving in a car, where there are a lot of people in the car, especially distressed young children or dysregulated young children, I find that very difficult. And there's subsequent anxiety that can come with that around driving because I worry about my focus on the road, whilst carrying my precious ones in the car with me, it puts an added pressure on.So it's not entirely clear what the causes are of APD. But it's been noted to be common with people that perhaps have or had regular ear infections. It's been some question around whether there's some genetic malfunction which can cause it, there's been known to be noted with people who have had head injuries or complications around birth. Now as I say, there are not too many things one can do to help with it, but I think an awareness that it's there is a good start and acceptance that there are probably times and places where you're more likely to be affected. As I mentioned, the car for me has become a time where I wear these particular sound defending earplugs which still allow me to safely drive but also just take an edge off the pitch of certain noises that I find distressing or difficult.There are other things that one can do, trying not to sit near at work, maybe not sitting near machinery, which might distract or you can perhaps find a quieter place to work using headphones and a mic if you're having an online meeting that might be helpful so that you're sort of cancelling out background noise. Those are useful practical things that we can do really. I've heard other suggestions like, when talking to somebody who has APD with ADHD, you know, trying to talk to their face, touching them in some way to kind of draw their attention back to you, especially if you're in a busy environment, kind of can keep someone focused. Because that's, that's the other aspect of it, isn't it? It's how the auditory processing problem takes you away from your current situation.So there might be an anxiety that follows either through a cognitive process of anxious thoughts or just this general sense that you know, you're not feeling anchored in what you're supposed to be doing. Now, if that were work, then that might bring with it stress that I'm not getting the work done that I should be doing or in a social situation. It's definitely something I worried about in the past before I found out about APD, was, you know, am I appearing rude because my eyes are darting around listening to all kinds of sounds that are stimulating my head? So I just, I guess more than anything I wanted to sort of raise those issues and get you thinking about how you can reduce it really.