'auditive' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'audītīvus', where the root 'audīre' meant 'to hear'.

'auditive' changed from the Late Latin adjective 'audītīvus' (used to mean 'of hearing'), passed into later Romance-language forms (e.g. French 'auditif'), and was adopted into English as 'auditive'.

Initially it meant 'of or pertaining to hearing', and over time it has retained that basic sense, coming to be used both for physiological/psychological relations to hearing and for things 'perceptible by hearing'.