Processing Words

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I notice that if I am watching television or a dvd, I seem to need to have the volume at a higher level than most people, in order to process the words that are spoken. When the volume is lower, I can "hear" the words fine, I just can´t understand them. Better yet, if there are subtitles, I understand better since I can read the words as they are being spoken.

I don´t think I have a hearing disorder, because there are other sounds in my daily life which I seem to be extra sensitive to. There are certain train noises, or sounds like ambulances, which are unbearable to me, but they don´t seem to disturb the general public at all. In fact, sometimes people stare at me as I clap my hands over my ears, in obvious pain.

Does anyone else have these problems- and are they related to AS?

Oh, one more thing: sometimes it also helps me to process words if I look at people´s mouths when they speak.

I think I do.

I can never understand when the volume is down. It's like another language.

My youngest son can be that way. We are still trying to figure out what the deal is. He didn't speak until he was 5 and now speaks well but too loudly. His hearing has been thoroughly tested by a specialist so it's not that, it's something to do with how he processes language. He says that sometimes people's speech sounds like gobbeldy gook to him. He's got spectacular language and writing skills. He's extremely gifted in understanding the structure of language and math. It's spoken language that is throwing him off. I don't know if higher volume would help. That's something to try though.

Oddly, his eldest brother had no trouble with spoken language but was baffled by the concept of written symbols to represent sounds or concepts (I tried to teach him some chinese characters and that went a little better but still was hard for him). At around 8.5/9 something clicked for him and he went from being unable to read beyond a few sight words to a 6th grade reading level. He still hates to do it.

I can understand television better if I watch with the subtitles on as well. It's not really a hearing thing as I can hear it fine. I hear things that other people can't. I guess I just process it better if I can read it.

Sounds like everybody is describing CAPD -- central auditory processing disorder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_p ... g_disorder

Is it still CAPD if you can process high pitched sounds but not low pitched ones? I definitely have the gobbedygook problem and sometimes it takes me a full second to understand what someone has said even though I heard them just fine.

When watching movies, I am trying to process that was just said, while the actors have moved onto the next lines... so I really prefer to watch movies on DVD or pay-per-view so that I can keep rewinding and picking up what I lost. Movies theatres are okay too, because the volume is so loud, but I still prefer to be able to rewind.

I haven't heard of a pitch dependence, but I haven't read up on CAPD in a lot of depth. It doesn't seem like that would be impossible, though -- like the low notes on a piano are harder to differentiate, so maybe lower toned speech does require more processing and so is more affected by a wonky speech processor. (??)

I have very good hearing, but do better with the tv turned up a little bit. Usually, though, I don't watch it much because I miss so much it's just wasting my time.

And I always watch people's mouths when they talk. If I don't I'll miss most of it because the sound is completely unreliable to me. It's usually gibberish unless there's no background noise - then I can get about 80% without looking at the person. That's kind of nice.

I find it hard to process words, as well. I have trouble processing the words that I read, though I have perfect vision.