This First Person column is written by Jessica Sunter, a nurse living with auditory processing disorder in Ottawa. For more information about CBC’s First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
“We’re having cheese ‘n’ kabobs.”
That’s what I heard my spouse say. I knew I didn’t hear it right but I couldn’t figure out why. So I told her what I heard, and I asked her to repeat herself.
“Chicken kebabs,” she repeated. Ah yes, that made more sense. What didn’t make sense was why I misunderstood the first time when I was literally sitting one foot away from her.
As I would soon confirm with testing, it’s not because my ears were struggling to hear. Instead, my brain was struggling to process the sounds.
WATCH | What it feels like to live with auditory processing disorder:
For Jessica Sunter, who developed the condition after a concussion five years ago, APD means the ears can hear and …