classrooms, shopping malls
Poor listening skills
Insensitivity to tone of voice or other nuances of speech
Acquired brain injury
History of frequent or persistent middle ear disease (otitis media, glue ear). Difficulty with language, reading or spelling
Suspicion or diagnosis of dyslexia
Suspicion or diagnosis of language disorder or delayFinally, the New Zealand guidelines state that behavioral checklists and questionnaires should only be used to provide guidance for referrals, for information gathering (for example, prior to assessment or as outcome measures for interventions), and as measures to describe the functional impact of auditory processing disorder. They are not designed for the purpose of diagnosing auditory processing disorders. The New Zealand guidelines indicate that a number of questionnaires have been developed to identify children who might benefit from evaluation of their problems in listening. Examples of available questionnaires include the Fishers Auditory Problems Checklist, the Childrens Auditory Performance Scale, the Screening Instrument for Targeting Educational Risk, and the Auditory Processing Domains Questionnaire among others. All of the previous questionnaires were designed for children and none are useful for adolescents and adults.The University of Cincinnati Auditory Processing Inventory (UCAPI) was designed for use with adolescents and adults seeking  testing for evaluation of problems with listening and/or to be used following diagnosis of an auditory processing disorder to determine the subjects status. Following a model described by Zoppo et al. (2015) a 34-item questionnaire was developed that investigates auditory processing abilities in each of the six common areas of complaint in APD (listening and concentration, understanding speech, following spoken instructions, attention, and other.)
One study showed thalamocortical connectivity in vitro was associated with a time sensitive developmental window and required a specific cell adhesion molecule (lcam5) for proper brain plasticity to occur. This points to connectivity between the thalamus and cortex shortly after being able to hear (in vitro) as at least one critical period for auditory processing. Another study showed that rats reared in a single tone environment during critical periods of development had permanently impaired auditory processing. Bad auditory experiences, such as temporary deafness by cochlear removal in rats leads to neuron shrinkage. In a study looking at attention in APD patients, children with one ear blocked developed a strong right-ear advantage but were not able to modulate that advantage during directed-attention tasks.In the 1980s and 1990s, there was considerable interest in the role of chronic Otitis media (middle ear disease or glue ear) in causing APD and related language and literacy problems. Otitis media with effusion is a very common childhood disease that causes a fluctuating conductive hearing loss, and there was concern this may disrupt auditory development if it occurred during a sensitive period. Consistent with this, in a sample of young children with chronic ear infections recruited from a hospital otolargyngology department, increased rates of auditory difficulties were found later in childhood. However, this kind of study will have sampling bias because children with otitis media will be more likely to be referred to hospital departments if they are experiencing developmental difficulties.