auditory processing

noun

1. The way the brain receives, interprets, and makes sense of sounds, especially speech.

   B2

   uncountable

   • "Auditory processing helps us understand speech in a noisy room."B1
   • "Children with weak auditory processing may struggle to follow spoken instructions."B2
   • "The study examined how auditory processing affects second-language comprehension."C1
   • "Auditory processing involves interpreting sounds after they reach the brain, rather than simply detecting them with the ears."C1

2. In medicine and psychology, the neural processes by which the ears and brain detect and interpret sound; the term also occurs in the name of auditory processing disorder.

   C1

   uncountabletechnical

   • "Auditory processing disorder can make it hard to understand speech in noisy rooms."C1