Auditory Discrimination: Telling Similar Sounds Apart

By Laura Lurns · Reviewed by Philip Weaver · Last reviewed 2026-10-11

What auditory discrimination means

Telling similar sounds apart is one listening skill. You may hear this called auditory discrimination. On our pages, the name describes a skill. It is not a diagnosis, and not a type of child.

Telling similar sounds apart sits beside other listening skills. One is following one voice in a busy room. Another is holding what was just said long enough to use it. We group these skills ourselves. The grouping is not a way to diagnose a child.

Our page on auditory processing covers what auditory processing means.

Mixing up words that sound alike

Some children mix up words that sound alike. That is a behavior. The behavior alone does not tell you why.

Some children do not hear the words clearly. Some find similar sounds hard to tell apart. Some find certain speech sounds hard to say. This page cannot tell you the reason.

In our view, a hearing check is worth doing early. Ask your child's doctor whether hearing has been checked recently. In our view, raise speech that is hard to follow with your child's doctor.

Hearing, and saying sounds

A standard hearing test checks whether a sound was heard. It does not ask what happens to the sound after that. A child's hearing can test fine, and listening can still be hard. Ask your child's doctor whether hearing has been checked recently.

An audiologist tests hearing. In our view, take a hearing concern to your child's doctor or an audiologist. Ask your child's doctor whether hearing has been checked recently.

In our view, raise speech that is hard to follow with your child's doctor. In 2022, a US health institute wrote about trouble saying speech sounds. It said a doctor may refer you to a speech-language pathologist.

A speech-language pathologist can screen and refer you to an audiologist. Ask your child's doctor whether hearing has been checked recently.

Our page on dyslexia and speech sound disorder covers trouble saying sounds.

Who diagnoses auditory processing disorder

Telling similar sounds apart is a skill. Auditory processing disorder is a diagnosis. In the way we use the words, they are not the same thing.

A US audiology body says audiologists should diagnose auditory processing disorder (American Academy of Audiology, 2010). It says checklists and single tests are not a full assessment. We cannot tell you whether your child has auditory processing disorder. Ask your child's doctor whether hearing has been checked recently.

Sounds, reading and spelling

Our page on types of dysgraphia covers one study of children with spelling trouble. That study looked at groups of children. It is not a checklist for one child.

If reading is hard, reading improves with reading instruction, so keep it going. Our page on dyslexia and auditory processing disorder covers reading.

In our view, you can talk with the teacher at the same time. A teacher can spot listening trouble in class.

What we hold, and what we do not

We hold no figure for how common auditory processing disorder is. Is auditory processing disorder often mistaken for ADHD or autism? We hold no study that shows this.

This page makes no claim for any program, game or exercise.

More on listening trouble

Our page on hearing loss, auditory processing and inattention covers how they look alike. Our page on what a standard hearing test checks covers a normal result.

Our page on processing difficulties has more.

In our view, a hearing check is worth doing early. Ask your child's doctor whether hearing has been checked recently.

If your child has lost a skill

Some children could do something and now cannot. That is different from a child who has not built the skill yet. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first, not a tutor.

When to ask for help

Each of these is a reason to ask for help on its own.

• Little change, even with steady practice and good teaching.
• Schoolwork well below what school expects.
• A teacher who raises a concern about learning.
• Extreme upset about schoolwork.
• Complete avoidance of school or learning.
• Hopelessness about learning.
• Sadness or worry that lasts.
• Significant delays in speech, language or motor development.
• A skill that was there and has gone. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first, not a tutor.

If no skill has gone, start with the teacher. Say what you are seeing at home, and what you have tried. Beyond the teacher, the right person depends on what it turns out to be about. If the work is too hard, someone who works on that school skill. If worry or mood is the thing, someone who works with children's mental health. In our view, delays in speech, language or movement are worth raising with your child's doctor. In our view, if you are worried enough to ask, a professional evaluation is worth asking about.

Any talk of hurting themselves is a same-day call to your doctor or a crisis line.