Hard of hearing?--I need to read lips

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I've always thought that I have been hard of hearing and I have to watch peoples mouths to actually get what they are saying sometimes. If people start talking after it has been silent for a while, I will never understand what they say right away, and need them to repeat it.

I'm starting to wonder if i cant process what people say.. and i need to watch the lips to match the words....or maybe its because i dont like looking at people in the eyes... who knows..

im not really sure....
i just thought of this and im having a hard time typing my thoughts out right now..... so i hope this makes sense to someone.....

any insight into this?
anyone else tend to watch peoples mouths when they are in conversation??

yes it is called lip reading. Deaf people and hearing impared people can look at a person's mouth and "read" what they are saying.

I am hearing impaired plus I have an auditory processing dysfunction.
You can have perfect hearing but have auditory processing problems and still not understand what people are saying.

You should have a hearing test done with testing for auditory processing problems
There are digital hearing aids which help with auditory processing dysfuction as well as hearing loss. However the digital hearing aids that help with auditory processing problems are expensive.

I don't think I have a hearing problem but an occasional comprehension problem. Sometimes if I'm distracted or zoning out and someone says something to me I cant decipher any meaning from it. All the words just kind of blend together in a long string of jibberish and I have to ask them to repeat it 3-4 times. Sometimes I still dont get it and just kind of nod in agreement. lol

Maybe it's due to Aspies being visual thinkers. You're possibly looking for visual clues by reading lips.

That is called auditory processing dysfuction...what you both described. There are tests for that too but has to be done by an audioligist not a hearing lab tech

That's interesting. I never would have considered APD, just always thought they were random brain dead moments. Some of the characteristics do fit but it probably could just be an ADD thing. I do mess up verbal instructions, forget what people tell me, and I'm horrible on the phone. I furrow my brow and look pissed too.

I couldnt really find anything about how it relates to music. I have a good sense of intonation and can figure out riffs and chords from listening to a song so I wonder how that fits in. Also, I have no language problems. I can read, write and spell perfectly fine. Maybe its from too many loud concerts and ear infections.

I usually have this look of confusion and worry until I get it.
Sometimes I just nod my head and say ok even if I have no idea what has been said.
A crazy story about doing that was my neighbor's friend died. I asked him how he was doing...he said something I could not understand, so I smiled and said "cool" He yelled that is not cool!. I said sorry, what did you say. I finally heard him say, My friend died today. Ohhh I am so sorry...I felt sooo stupid.

Anyway APD effects your hearing in that you hear the sounds coming in, but the words that someone says can sometimes be hard to understand once it reaches the brain. See your brain takes the sounds and processes them to understand what is being said or heard, but with APD, the brain gets a mix up going on that can happen several differnt ways. As far as music goes, you can hear music fine with some types of APD, but speech gets a mix up going on.

Usaully when I hear something it sounds like the the teacher on the peanuts.
Wha whop whan woo wap wan whop. Well not quite that bad, but it is just sounds and in my mind I do a fast check and manually compare the sounds to what words I know sound that way. It happens very quickly, but alot of the time, I miss hear the 1st time

It can take a LONG time before someone's words sink in to my mind as words rather than gibberish. Generally speaking, I only understand about (on average) three out of six or more words of a sentence. I lip read sometimes, but I find this difficult if I don't know the person I am talking to. My issue with eye contact is so big that I can't even look at people's faces! My audiologist says that by looking at people's faces I would undestand better but I feel SO uncomfortable!

I have been diagnosed with hyperacusis, i.e perfect hearing. It is just as disabling as hearing loss in my opinion because I can't hear what people are saying over all the darned noise. I have, however been doing white noise therapy to help balance my hearing out. Generally it is helping with my sound sensitivity but not with my ability to understand spoken word. I am starting to think I have an APD. I actually wear my white noise machines in my ears and they look like hearing aids so generally speaking I can pass myself off as deaf if I don't hear something... People are a bit more sympathetic then! If I don't wear them people just look at me like I am stupid...

(downside to the 'pretend your white noise devices are hearing aids' thing is that people shout loud at you or say mean things because they think you can't hear...)

_________________
I have HFA, ADHD, OCD & Tourette syndrome. I love animals, especially my bunnies and hamster. I skate in a roller derby team (but I'll try not to bite )

I agree that it sounds like you may have some auditory processing difficulties. There are many different sub-classifications of APD. An audiologist can diagnose APD, and also a trained SLP. I have done processing evaluations before. ADD/ADHD has to be ruled out first. You cannot be diagnosed with an attention problem, as they have many of the same behavioral characteristics.

Let me try to post a chart I made when I was taking my Aural Rehab class.


Behavioral sub-categories for APD

Auditory attention

Difficulty in one or more of the following attention types
• preparatory attention
• sustained attention
• selective attention
• divided attention

need to rule out ADD/ADHD as a primary factor


Auditory decoding

Difficulty quickly, easily, and innately recognizing and being able to manipulate the sounds of a spoken language (PA)

Signs-symptoms
• slow responder
• reading & spelling errors
• word-finding problems
• misunderstands directions
• difficultly participating in oral discussions


Prosodic deficit

A “decoding –like” problem- only in the right hemisphere

Poor processing of rate/rhythm/intonation

Reduced ability to determine speakers intentions/emotional state


Auditory intolerance

Decoding based:
•difficultyunderstanding speech in the presence of background noise

Squelch based:
•difficulty attending to primary speaker in the presence of competing signals

Attention based:
•easily drawn
off task

Hypersensitivity to sound


Rapidly fading Aud memory

Echoic memory vs. working memory

Loss of the auditory memory trace before it can be acted upon

Impulsive responder (early or on last thing said)

Decrease attention span

forgets instructions

decreased reading comprehension

poor handwriting

expressive lang problem

Aud integration

Difficulty utilizing dichotic aud info and/or info presented both aud and visual modes simultaneously

Very delayed response

Marked sound symbol conversation difficulty

Severe reading problems

Very poor spelling

Very poor handwriting



Aud linguistic organization

Difficulty keeping auditory info in proper sequence

Reversals: sounds within words, spoonerisms, often seen with numbers

Difficulty with sequential directions

Possible difficulty with complex syntax

Disorganized word, messy desk, sloppy papers

the things that match up for me are in bold

Behavioral sub-categories for APD

Auditory attention

Difficulty in one or more of the following attention types
• preparatory attention
• sustained attention
• selective attention
• divided attention



Auditory decoding

Difficulty quickly, easily, and innately recognizing and being able to manipulate the sounds of a spoken language (PA)

Signs-symptoms
• slow responder
• word-finding problems
• misunderstands directions
• difficultly participating in oral discussions


Prosodic deficit

A “decoding –like” problem- only in the right hemisphere

Poor processing of rate/rhythm/intonation

Reduced ability to determine speakers intentions/emotional state


Auditory intolerance

Decoding based:
•difficulty understanding speech in the presence of background noise

Squelch based:
•difficulty attending to primary speaker in the presence of competing signals

Attention based:
•easily drawn
off task

Hypersensitivity to sound


Rapidly fading Aud memory

Echoic memory vs. working memory

Loss of the auditory memory trace before it can be acted upon

Impulsive responder (early or on last thing said)

Decrease attention span

forgets instructions

decreased reading comprehension

poor handwriting

expressive lang problem

Aud integration

Difficulty utilizing dichotic aud info and/or info presented both aud and visual modes simultaneously

Very delayed response

Marked sound symbol conversation difficulty

Severe reading problems

Very poor spelling

Very poor handwriting



Aud linguistic organization

Difficulty keeping auditory info in proper sequence

Reversals: sounds within words, spoonerisms, often seen with numbers

Difficulty with sequential directions

Possible difficulty with complex syntax

Disorganized word, messy desk, sloppy papers

I have high frequency hearing loss, I can't hear anything above 7,500KHz.

How was this posted Saturday the 18th?