Does anyone else suffer with auditory processing problems?

[Rosexoxo]

I have had my hearing checked on multiple occasions over the years and apparently my ability to hear sounds is perfectly normal for my age.
It is just so strange that if I am in an environment with any background sound (eg in a coffee shop) , I really struggle to hear a conversation. I am often conscious that no one else seems to be having any problems hearing.

When I am eating, I can't hear the TV properly due to the sound of my chomping.
Does anyone else have this? I have been like it from childhood. I find it so tiring to meet up with people in busy places, due to the effort involved trying to follow what they are saying against background noise.

Yes but I'm autistic

Yep. Also ND.

Yes but I wasn't aware that it's a thing. I thought all people have this problem. Don't they?

This sounds like me, a lot

I love to have subtitles on all the time on TV shows, YouTube etc. as well, I feel like I miss quite a lot otherwise. Anyone else do that?

Yes, I have subtitles on the TV at all times. Really annoys me if there aren't any subtitles for a programme!

I believe I may be neuro diverse (suspect ADHD). I am self diagnosed though.

Yes, suspected ASD and/or ADHD.

I just avoid busy places!

Yes - it started with my ME-CFS and continues to get worse. I've got tinnitus as well, which doesn't stop me hearing fairly normally but I'm constantly making an effort to hear 'through' it.

I can only watch TV with subtitles; it's tiring and exasperating to follow dialogue without them!

FWIW, most people lose the ability to hear conversation with a lot of background noise - it's an age thing, as is losing high and low pitched sound.

Yes. I am autistic.

Depends, more often in noisy places I'm aware I listen to the sounds around and not to who's talking to me. It's more a concentration thing.

I can't eat and hear clearly but I assumed that was universal. I can't eat with headphones in it feels wrong, and not sound related but I can't eat in the dark either

ADHD and this is spot on for me :)

Yes I have this and was also sent for hearing test when I was little but as a young adult was diagnosed with ADD (PI, primarily inattentive). I use subtitles and if background noise ask people to repeat themselves quite a bit, or just laugh and nod in the hope it fits whatever they said 🤪

May be worth you looking at the symptoms to see if it fits? Tbh they're quite generic though and anyone can seek a diagnosis of anything. Regardless of a label, that's the way you are, and hopefully you can find simple ways to manage it x

I struggle with this too, especially in restaurants and bars. It makes me feel anti social in those environments as I'd rather be home where it's quiet and not straining to hear people.

I am not and don't suspect ND.

However my partner has self diagnosed ADHD and awaiting a formal assessment. They don't have this issue as much but I do have to have the subtitles on everything because they yap all the way through everything we watch

I suspect I have mild hearing issues but never been tested. I did an online test which said there may be issues with my hearing but when I booked an appointment it got cancelled because I'm not over 40. Haven't bothered the GP with it.

Yes.

Yes yes yes yes yes! I can't hear a sodding thing someone is saying in a restaurant. It's like all sounds merge into one.

I also can't "hear/understand" someone on phone if against left ear, but can against right ear.

I can't watch the news anymore due to all the background music.

Radio stations with presenters talking over music fills me with rage.

Don't get me started on shouty YouTube presenters and hyperactive kids TV.

I struggle if there is background noise, struggle to understand someone if they have a strong accent, can’t decipher spoken foreign languages (but could speak and translate written work in school lessons) and struggle to hear song lyrics.

I do but I thought it was me getting older (60) and I do suffer with sinus/catarrh quite a bit...always end up putting the subtitles on!! 😅

Yes. It’s normal. You’re fine! 😁

That's just normal isn't it?

YES!! This really resonates with me, particularly when people dont enunciate, I'm driven insane by "mumblers" or people eating noisily when sat next to me when I'm trying to listen to the tv etc. Have subtitles on the TV pretty much all the time. I'm 45.

Yes, I was diagnosed with Obscure Auditory Dysfunction 7 years ago. Anti-depressants have helped but it still impacts my daily life.

Yes. Sometimes a programme has music that is louder than what the characters are saying. Particularly films. Google mumbling in films, it's a thing!

Don't forget that we weren't designed to eat in front of the telly, so yes I have the subtitles on too. I have tinnitus and so struggle to pick out if someone is calling through from another room, for example, a child, if the telly is on. Yet I was tested and supposedly have perfect hearing.

I was just out for a cuppa recently with a friend in a really tiny café, which was so loud i could barely hear her. Add in the sound of those awful barista coffee machines accompanied by the banging of the coffee grounds and I wanted to cry and go for a lie down.

Barista coffee machines need their own thread. Please. Someone do a thread about it.

https://amp.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jan/28/mumbling-actors-bad-speakers-or-lazy-listeners-why-everyone-is-watching-tv-with-subtitles-on

Yes - the problem is very specifically with the spoken word - my hearing at other ends is the spectrum, both low and high is far better than my wife BUT I also understand that now, later on life, that, according to both my offspring, (both doctors), that I would, definitely have been classed as having several autistic traits - I now accept that part of the problem is the irritation (perhaps more dissatisfaction) I experience when I don't hear every single word it creates an internal torture if I don't hear every single part of the dialogue - I'm the same when reading - I have to understand every single sentence - I simply can't skirt over anything - settling for a general sense of what is going on is just so unacceptable to me - it distresses me.. so I don't think the problem is the one that an audiologist mentioned - that a very small number of people have difficulty distinguishing and decoding voices in a noisy environment - this is exactly what I do have but I think it is now to do with the "autistic traits" - I find sounds that originate quite close to me, even relatively quiet ones compared to other sound sources, sound as loud to me because of the way my attention works - I pay more attention to the sound that is closer to me - I struggle to filter it out, it is highly distracting to me, I can not "overlook" it - a clock ticking will interfere with my ability to hear the TV or radio - it is definitely an inability to filter out audible distractions - it feels like all sounds - loud and quite, close and far away, are shocked so that they are all equal to each other in terms of the demand they make on my attention and that is what makes it difficult for me to decipher voices in an environment with a mix of different sound sources - it's not to do with the physical inability to hear certain frequencies or sounds.