Block it out or hear everything?

Post Reply New Topic

The things I've read about autism seem to indicate that we don't pay attention or don't focus on what people are communicating. Maybe that it so but I find that when someone I like is talking to me, even about something I don't care about, I can't NOT hear them. Whereas my NT partner will ignore me when I'm talking about something boring.

I wish I could ignore people. I wish I didn't have to hear everything. I am a bit sensitive to sound. I have really good hearing as well.

What is your experience?

I struggle to hear people talking to me in noisy environments because I don't filter out the background noise very well (if at all).

My Dx was only made last year and previously I always thought I was going deaf, despite the most recent (maybe 6 years ago) hearing test being passed with flying colours.

Sometimes I try and turn it to a positive when it is just sound and practice mindfulness. What can I hear; can I identify where it is coming from; is that a new noise? As long as it doesn't get too much I am fine. Otherwise I remove myself from the situation.

Lots of people talking at once does grate on my nerves, as does people moaning (to others) about trivial things.

I am very sensitive to sound, it gets to me worse than light, touch or anything else, and I basically have two modes: When it gets too noisy, too chaotic or just too boring, I can go blank and block out my surroundings, temporarily and to a certain degree. Sometimes because I want to, and sometimes it just spontaneously happens when I can't take it anymore - a bit like fainting or puking.

If I need to be present [when someone’s talking to me directly], then I’m completely alert and cannot filter at all, much like you described it.

s**t hits the fan when there is a need to zone out and to focus at the same time, selectively [for example when I’m talking on the phone in a noisy environment, when I'm trying to read on the bus with other people talking, or when there is a large group of people speaking loudly and simultaneously (coffee break at work … ), and one of them decides to begin small talking to me]. I cannot filter.

I generally flip out and shut down when people come at me all at once. This happens most often with my family. If I just get home 3 of them will come at me at once asking for stuff and telling me stuff. I basically just become overwhelmed and try to escape.

I won't necessarily start ignoring someone, but there gets to be a point where my ability to process starts to break down.

That happens to me sometimes watching those YT videos like "10 mysterious things you didn't know exist". My ability to follow the video breaks down and I have to stop it before my head explodes. Also I find some voices easier to listen to than others.

I either hear everything, or nothing by simply focusing at something.
I wanna control my hearing filters. I tend to hear voices as noises to the point that I mishear words, and people mistook me for not listening when I can hear them. Having a bad short term memory didn't helped.

I can focus on sounds, music, noises, but not voices. It usually end up tuning voices out first before anything else.

Gained Number Post Count (1).
Lose Time (n).

Lose more time here - Updates at least once a week.

Sometimes, it is like I'm blocking and hearing everything at the same time, if that makes sense.

I hear all those noises coming at me, but my mind doesn't really process them.

I block it out mostly.

I always hear when people are talking to me, more like a sixth sense. But I find NTs block things out sometimes. Occasionally I'm talking directly to someone, about something important, and they look completely distracted and haven't really heard. This is one of the reasons why I find it hard to speak up in a group, I worry that my words are going to get filtered out and then I feel silly.
But whatever I happen to be doing, I can always sense when I am being talked to, even if my back is to them. My ears are open to people. My hearing isn't good but I constantly notice people talking to me, even in a noisy environment.

I think I block things out. I don't hear a lot of what's going on around me.

When I was diagnosed I asked if small sounds annoyed me, but they don't. It feels like the opposite. Sounds around me often feel very muffled and my brain doesn't seem to focus enough on the words being said to me, in order to actually take things on board.

People can have conversations with me, and I'll get to the end and have no idea what they've said. And it's not because I don't care or don't want to listen.

I tend to hear everything; however, I might not hear someone speaking directly to me. I can hear high-pitched electrical hums, and I have to distract myself to avoid hearing my apartment neighbors, etc. talking. However, if someone I don't know tries to tell me something I don't expect, I might sense the words vibrating my ear drums without transmitting any meaning whatsoever. Sometimes, I can play it back later, sometimes not; it's a strange feeling.

I may not look like I'm paying attention when I am, and vice versa. It's easy to see how NTs could misunderstand either one. To the extent that I can choose, I'll choose to hear more.