Auditory processing disorder may be present in schizophrenia and it is highly correlated with formal thought disorder.

•We investigated the presence of Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) in schizophrenia and its association with Formal Thought Disorder (FTD).•Patients with schizophrenia and controls completed a battery of 3 auditory processing tests.•Patients showed poorer performance than controls in all auditory processing tests.•Most of the patients had auditory deficits that can be classified as APD.•FTD, as well as other clinical symptoms, were associated with poorer auditory processing performance.