this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2023
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For anyone not aware, if this happens to you frequently and you don’t have any hearing loss it can be a symptom of auditory processing disorder. If you have ADHD or are on the autism spectrum it’s more likely you also have auditory processing disorder.
I'd been considering asking my doctor about this but I figure it's not going to make much of a difference at this point. I have ADHD and got my hearing tested a few years ago because I was concerned about how often I couldn't understand what people were saying.
Nope, my hearing is perfect. My brain just has a hard time decoding sounds sometimes I guess. A lot of times people sound like they're mumbling. I've started telling people that I'm hard of hearing and asked them to speak a bit louder, slower, and more clearly. Makes a big difference!
Now add accents to the mix, and the problem becomes ten times worse. I always feel so horrible asking my foreign coworkers to repeat themselves because my brain just refuses to pick up what they're saying. Oftentimes I get it completely wrong, or I just give up, smile and nod, and hope they weren't asking me anything important. I already have trouble picking up on what people are saying the first time as is, even clear native English speakers...
Yep, sometimes I feel like my brain has conversation dyslexia. Like I hear the sounds just fine, but they mean nothing to me.
Same. Though the trigger I find is being in a place with a lot of conversations going on at once (such as a busy bar). Its like my brain is trying to process every conversation and can't focus on the one that actually matters.
I have bad hearing, but I have a bad habit of just giving up after the first repeat if I still can't fully hear what they're saying, instead of asking people to talk more clearly because of my hearing issues.