Problems Filtering Out Noise When Listening To Someone Talk?

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I heard this was a common aspie thing, so i'm curious how many people have trouble with this. I generally don't have a ton of sensory problems these days... I hate certain loud noises but i can usually tolerate them, and i can tolerate clothing very well that would have driven me crazy as a child. I guess that just having to deal with different situations in life could have de-sensitized me to all that stuff... But, something that no amount of being around people in public seems to help is my ability to actually hear what people are saying, especially with there's a bunch of background noise thrown in. I mean, i'm around it most days, but it still seems like i say "what?" and "huh?" about as much as a 90-year-old with a hearing impairment. But i'm definitely not hearing impaired, because i pick up a lot of sounds that other people don't seem to hear... but when there's other noise, everything just seems to blend together and i can't pick out the speech unless the person is really close to me and speaking very clearly. I hate it when a group of my co-workers is standing around talking about something, and then, to add to the fact that i'm already not very good at getting into a conversation, i can only pick out about half of what they're saying with the various other noises all around(other people talking, doors opening and closing, people moving things, it all runs together). And that's with people who, for the most part, speak very clearly. Add a person who has an accent i'm not used to or who doesn't clearly pronounce all the parts of words, and i have problems even when i'm talking to them one-on-one. It seems to start frustrating other people something, too.. I'm not sure if the voice raising i get sometimes is out of frustration/anger, just to help me hear them better, or both. I remember in school that i hated trying to talk to people in the lunch room. The most obvious problem was that i wasn't sure how to really get into a group and start socializing.. But barely being able to pick up 25% the words another person said to me over all the noise from everyone else talking was, i think, almost just as big of a factor. I never understood how, since my hearing was perfectly fine, i couldn't pick out what people were saying but everyone else seemed perfectly able to. I think that's the only reason i ever picked up whatever amount of body language i know how to recognize now(and i have a tendency to "talk with my hands," but more by pointing and sometimes even kind of feeling a picture in front of me to describe something than the way most people do it.. to make sure i'm understanding and being understood when words aren't all getting through. Because i can't hear them, and i have a tendency to talk too low for them to hear me well sometimes.. lol. yeah). The phone really sucks too. I've often got to plug my other ear to block out some noise, then if the connection isn't crystal clear or the person isn't a clear speaker, i'll be thinking that i think i at least heard the word "nintendo"... so, from my side the conversation it's pretty much going: "what? you want to know if we carry nintendo wiis?" "No?" "the DSes then?" "oh, so you wanted a game then? what game?" "Fan Tan? i've never heard of that game, are you sure you have the name right?" then eventually i get that what they said and it's "oh, you said a BEN 10 game, not Fan Tan. okay, that makes more sense." It just makes things very confusing. A little funny looking back sometimes, but confusing.

Yes. This is the number one reason I can't do "party mingling". Me trying to converse in a crowded room is pointless. I can never find a good place to stand where I can actually hear what people are talking about. Plus the awful noise makes me tense up to the point where my thoughts are constantly interrupted with a little voice saying "get me out of here". Even if I manage to find a spot close enough to hear everyone there's the constant interruptions that cause me to miss things that are said. It's even worse when there's people constantly pushing through the group to get to some food or drink. "Excuse me, coming through" <bump> <push> every 5 seconds. I'm so sensitive that even the way someone smells can distract me from the conversation. I can only tolerate maybe 10 minutes of this hell until I eventually end up wandering off looking for an empty chair some place, preferably near a wall, to sit and relax.

Last edited by marshall on 10 Jul 2009, 1:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

Oh, i hate that! It makes me just want to back up against the wall and stand still. What i'm thinking gets sort of like "if i pretend like i'm part of the wall, maybe no one will run into me and i can get away when there's an opening" haha.

I'm a fairly big guy so I feel like I'm in the way of people no matter where I go. I simply cannot get comfortable. I got hot and flushed and feel myself starting to sweat. I have a real problem with sweat as well. I can't stand the feeling of being sweaty.

Depends on the noise I think, I can do parties no problem but recently was talking on the phone in my new flat which is un-carpeted the echo from my voice on the bare floor boards totally blanked my mind, I had no chat (it was someone I really wanted to speak to) and nearly fell asleep at one point when I sat down.

Another time recently in my mums car i was trying to give directions to her while kids in the back seat were going crazy with toys screaming and shouting. I couldn't handle it and went mental, lets just say the kids were quiet the rest of the journey.

When I was younger it made me wonder whether I had some kind of a hearing problem.

This is always hard for me, and seems to be getting worse as I get older. Its as if all the other noises in a room are on the exact same level as the human voice, usually one of my kids. I too thought that I was having hearing issues, but I can hear fine. I am constantly aking "what" and I'm sure they think I am a pain.

What the original poster describes is one of the worst things about being autistic. I'm nonverbal in crowded situations. I prefer to communicate by sign or text. I wish I could lip read, but that is too hard for me.

I have learned to filter other sounds and listen to one speaker at a time. I only have problems listening if I should follow many speakers who speak on top of each other. Or even when they take turns, it takes a while to change my concentration from one speaker to the other so I miss their first sentences. I can follow single instruments while listening to music, too.

How did you learn this, OddFinn?
No matter how much I try to distinguish between two people talking at once, or one person talking while the surroundings are noisy, I find myself unable to. The voices or the noise and the voice cancel each other out like waves on the ocean and I don't pick up on what's said at all.

I can not really explain it, but it took a huge amount of concentrating. Then it just kept becoming easier every time through practicing. One of my special interests, namely radios, has helped in this. Listening to a weak station through all the hissing and static and other interfering stations is really good practice.

At work, when things get really hectic, and I am talking to a customer, I can't hear the intercom so I can't tell if they are calling me ( the price checker) or someone else. One cashier was calling for someone named Christy, and due to me talking to a customer, and not fully hearing, I thought they were calling for the courtesy clerk (me).

To be honest I never listened to what other people had to say, therefore never noticed this problem. As I have aged and tried to listen to others, yes, background noise is a big problem.

I usually explain the issue; I can hear that you are talking, but not what you are saying. (Modified translation.)
Sometimes it's not even background noice, I just can't make out what they're saying, it sounds familiar but makes no connection.

I've done a lot of sound work in my life, and you can probably imagine my shock the day I learned about the Cocktail Party Effect. In short, it is the ability of humans to single out one particular voice or sound in a noisy environment (such as talking to a friend at a party).

My professor thought I was nuts when I had no idea what he was talking about. I can't do that!

Apparently the inability to do this is a form of Auditory Processing Disorder. I've never been diagnosed with it as far as I know, despite lots of hearing tests as a child.

Party cockeyed tales topic

An NT thing is being able to single out a voice, like focussing and filtering out noise. I have CAPD, so this is a problem. This is the one area my NT kids have the most problem understanding.Tory_ canuck hit the nail on the head!!