Selective Hearing.......Who has it?

Post Reply New Topic

i have this. it has something to do with being able to unconciously choose what to filter out. i find it hard to choose between anything, even decisions i have lots of time to think over, so the lack of discrimination occurs even more at the perceptual level.

I think my husband may have it. Sometimes when I talk to him and tell him stuff, he claims he didn't hear me say it even though I was talking to him.

I have a bad habit of tuning people out when they're boring me. I'll only hear the beginning and end of what they say, because my mind wanders in the middle and I can't hear the other person over the sound of my own thoughts.

I have a problem where I am unable to listen for long periods of the time. I find it hard to listen when I get too anxious to do something or get back to something so my mind is focus on that while my supervisor may be talking.

When I was in high school, kids assumed I never listened because I couldn't keep up what the teacher was saying and the fact I couldn't remember all the words and my head get loaded and I would end up tuning out and I get lost in my own thoughts. I don't see that as selective hearing because I have to be choosing to do it.

I'm either listening to everything, or listening to nothing. There are no in-betweens. The only sound that can jostle me out of a hyperfocused state is a very loud sound--loud enough to pop me straight into overload. I think I should warn people about that--they need to stand in my field of vision for a while so I'll notice them, rather than yelling into my ear or touching me. Last time I startled like that, I knocked an eppendorf tube right out of a co-worker's hand (it stayed capped, thankfully).

yes... i only hear things that are either related or distantly related to my interests, or if i am paying my UNdivided attention :L

thats interesting, my SO has called the same thing "selective hearing" for over a decade, and we only found out this past spring that he and our son are autistic. they both do it.

we were talking about this a couple weeks ago, and as my SO describes it, its as if the sounds come in, he hears them perfectly, remembers them, but doesnt recognize them as requiring a response. if i can get his attention, he will often then answer me. this happens primarily when he is absorbed in something like a tv show, reading, or video game. its like he delays processing them when hes busy until his attention is directed to me.

i cant be sure, but the delayed processing may be something hes adapted to over time. our son doesnt have the delayed processing response, you have to ask the question after getting his direct attention or he cant answer you. maybe thats because hes only 4, or maybe he just doesnt process without visual attention, im not sure. it will be interesting to see over time if he is able to do the delayed processing his father does.

I don't know... I've been accused of it many times, and I frustrate my husband to no end. He often tells me he just said something and I'll have no recollection of it. I don't think it's selective hearing, though. I just don't remember. Especially because he'll often tell me I actually acknowledged that he said something.

I hear things I don't want to hear, but also I hear things I do want to hear. So, basically, I hear every noise existing around me, and I just cannot block anything out. If somebody is speaking to me, I hear them. It's rare that I miss somebody asking me a question.

The only thing I don't seem to hear is when people call my name out in the street. They have to call my name 2 or 3 times to get my attention. But I don't think that has anything to do with AS, because my NT friend says to me that a lot of people don't always hear their name being called the first time when out in a busy environment.

Sometimes it seems so. I block out what people are saying and it doesn't register. Especially, while doing something else.

I don't have selective hearing as such. Or at least whoever's doing the selecting sure ain't me! I don't think I can have selective hearing if I'm not the one doing the selecting - that would just be horribly unfair.

But yeah, I've been talking to someone and not heard a thing they said because I was distracted. Or rather, I hear it fine, but my brain immediately files it in it's spam folder without reading the content when it's actual a message that requires response. A friend once commented that I'd have made some nice woman a very good distracted husband with the way I carry entire conversations with "mmm hm" "That's nice dear" "Whatever you say". Also sometimes there's so many environmental noises around that I literally can't make out the voice of a person I'm talking to - but that's different I think, when that happens I can usually ask them to go someplace a bit quieter and then I'll be fine.

I find it's worse if I'm in the middle of something, like if I'm playing a game I can focus perfectly on the voice chat in the game, but people coming in and having conversations with me about unrelated stuff like them turning off the water tomorrow - I won't remember a thing they said. It doesn't matter if they interrupt me and ask me to stop playing while they speak, my mind's still fixed in on the game and I just can't break it from it that fast. I have a block of notes next to my computer for that now, so if people have something important to tell me I can write it down as they're saying it. It's the only way I'll remember once I'm done, by looking at the note and going 'huh'.

I wish I could chose to block out what I want. That would be so awesome! Then I would be able to block out toddlers screaming without having to put earplugs in or putting my hands over my ears.

I definitely get this. I actually thought I had a hearing problem and had a hearing test and I had perfect hearing. This didn't surprise me at all really because I can hear so many sounds others can't and things like sirens approaching way off in the distance before anyone else. But when I'm talking to people especially one on one I miss some of the words, it's like a time delay, and I'm concentrating so hard to catch up that I miss the rest of what they're saying. So I'm usually nodding, smiling or laughing in the wrong places cos I don't know wtf they're talking about.

I had someone once tell me a very personal secret on the phone which they made me promise not to tell anyone. I would never do that anyway but in this case I couldn't if I wanted to because to this day I haven't got a clue what they were on about, I only caught the odd word here and there and just hoped I'd made the right replying noises. It's so much worse for me on the phone especially if someone has a strong foreign accent, it must be the same for others trying to understand my cockney accent.

Tiffinity.