Can I train my ears to hear differently?

[SamSmithsGoldenShower]

I realise this is quite an odd post, but I thought I'd ask...

I have excellent hearing. Kind of. I can hear the faintest sound like a cat meowing outside when all our windows are shut, the slightest hum of an electronic gadget, any fair sound.

My problem is my ears focus on the small sounds, not the main important ones. For example, if I'm watching a film and chewing something at the same time my ears will focus on the chewing sound and I struggle to hear the film. Or my ears will pick up the scraping sound of a fork on a plate or the background music at a restaurant rather then the conversation between people I'm sitting with at the table.

I often have to ask people to repeat themselves and it can be quite embarrassing. Has anyone experienced something like this? I feel like it's getting worse as I've got older (I'm only 40 btw). But is there a way to correct it? Perhaps with some ear training exercises or something?

I used to do this all the time but I find that I'm actually listening for it, especially at night. Maybe try retraining your hearing by putting in earphones with something quite loud to stop the habit of focusing. Especially annoying noises (people chewing, animals grooming etc)

Its worked for me, I can actually blank noise out either that or I've made myself deaf 😂but I'm much happier as it was driving me insane

I would try to have a proper hearing test. It is possible to hear sounds , or not, according to their frequencies. Maybe you are not hearing sounds across the whole range of frequencies.