Autism and Hearing

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This post isn't about hearing problems itself, but rather processing what you hear.

Does anybody ever get these moments where, despite not having any hearing problems, someone speaks to you, and you're not able to process what they've said? Kinda like you hear the words spoken, but are not able to process them properly, and thus cannot understand what the person is actually saying.
It happens to me sometimes, there's moments where a person is speaking to me, and although I can hear perfectly, I cannot fully understand what the person is talking about, and have to ask them to repeat it a couple of times so I can understand it fully

Yep! Runs in my family. It's called, "Auditory Processing Disorder". In our case it is specifically, "Auditory Processing Delay" (doesn't help that the acronyms are the same). Essentially, it is accurate to say it is an analog to dyslexia but through your auditory system rather than visual. It is one of those things that are often co-morbid with being on the spectrum, but non AS/ASD people can have it too.

"what" is probably in my top 10 most frequent words.
even if I think I actually heard someone right the first time I will usually ask them to repeat themselves anyway (depending on how well I know them and the situation we are in).
I also rarely ever understand song lyrics, they just pass through my head as musical gibberish.

Oh, yes. I was actually sent to get a professional hearing test in elementary school because of this issue. My mom and teacher thought I might be having a hard time hearing. It turned out my hearing was perfect. I later found out I have auditory processing issues. I actually used to watch TV with the captions on, because if I didn't, I wouldn't understand big gaps of what people were saying. I had to stop doing that because it really bothered my dad.

Sometimes when I'm talking to someone and I can't understand them, I'll say "What?" but before they can repeat themselves, I'll suddenly understand what they said and answer. It's like sometimes it just takes my brain a few extra seconds to process whatever they said, but other times I just hear strange sounds in place of words and don't process it at all.

I've sort of trained myself to read lips over time dealing with this, so it's not as much of an issue as it used to be. Well, at least as long as I can see who I'm talking to; if they aren't facing me, I have problems more often. And if I'm in a noisy environment and there's background noise, it makes it harder to understand what people say.

Yes, that's the same for me. I tend to like songs based on the background music and/or that the person singing has a nice voice, but I can be reluctant to tell people which songs I like because for all know, they could be about terrible things. So I started looking up the lyrics to songs I liked and reading them as I listened to the song, and then I started being able to hear the words in the song because I knew what they were supposed to be.

Yep, frequently, especially if there's even a little background noise, like an air conditioner. I hear the words, but they come out gibberish, or the word order is mixed up. People with accents or who talk quickly are especially difficult to understand. Sometimes I'll divide the words up incorrectly so it makes no sense (e.g., "people with accents" becomes "pee pellwit thaxents", which is nonsense. My hearing is good--I can hear it if someone drops a crumpled ball of paper on the floor--but my ability to make sense of what I hear is impaired.

There are whole collections of misheard song lyrics and poems, called "eggcorns" (some misheard "acorn" as "eggcorn") or "mondegreens" (for a mis-hearding of a poem line, "They hae slain the Earl Amurray, / And laid him on a green” which someone heard as "Lady Mondegreen" instead of "laid him on a green."

Maybe my brother has it a little too. Mom likes to tell one story of him in Sunday School, when he asked Mom why God isn't in Heaven. "Of course He's in Heaven!" Mom replied. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

My brother replied, "It says so in the Lord's Prayer! 'Our Father, who aren't in Heaven, Howard be thy name!'"

Hmm, sometimes I know someone has just told me something but I have no memory of what it was. Might be due to bad short-term memory.

YES!! !! !! !! !! I do have an auditory processing disorder (as do both of my kids...although my son's seems to be a different subtype from me and my daughter). Sometimes I hear the words but don't understand them. Sometimes my understanding is delayed (my NT husband does not understand that)! Sometimes I hear noises....kind of like the adults on the Peanuts cartoons. Sometimes I only get pieces....my daughters best friend once asked me for more olives. I heard more, but the rest of it I wasn't sure on, so I just started loading up her plate with everything but olives until her mother stopped me and cleared it up!

Funny you should mention this, i was talking about the exact same thing the other day to someone... I myself grew up with severe hearing difficulties, however i am not too bad now, pretty normal"" as far as that goes, however i can be talking to someone, and i can hear the words but sometimes it just doesnt register, i ask maybe to repeat and maybe as they are halfway through the third attempt, the brain decides to click in , so to speak, i also get this with some tones of frequency, as i have noticed it sometimes happens with certain individuals more often... I get this even in a quiet conversation... however i have also noticed that someone trying to talk to me in an environment where there is quite loud music, no matter how much they try to shout in my ear hole, i cant make out a damn word! i just shrug my shoulders and say sorry cant hear... I have maybe figured that it is quit possible my brain is taking in the music and is unable to process what someone standing next to me say, but as only a guess, but yes i do have this problem now and again, and it can be quit frustrating at times.

Holy cow...I had never heard of Auditory Processing Disorder until I just looked it up, and it fits me completely. I had thought my problems understanding music and TV were because of my NVLD, and they likely are to a certain extent, but I didn't realize there was another disorder that could explain it even more clearly. I'm sure APD and NVLD go together quite often, though. That just isn't fair; I have one disability that impairs my visual learning ability, and another one that impairs my auditory learning ability!

Yep, this is why I have to watch TV with subtitles (and I usually just turn the sound off completely, because the background music and sound effects are overwhelming). I have trouble on the phone because I have to focus really hard to understand what the person is saying (even though it's technically loud enough, or even too loud).

me too! my partner gets annoyed when we watch tv together because the subtitles distract him lol. when i watch alone i usually turn the sound down to barely audible.

Congratulations! (?)

Because of NVLD, I need everything vocalized. But because of APD, I can't take in half of it. The written word has been my friend since I was four, but that doesn't do much for every day social learning. Luckily, I had a *really* verbal mom when it came to etiquette (as did she, b/c it all runs in the family). It meant my interactions came off as formal and stiff for the first half of my life, but it was better than nothing.

I don't learn much at all from listening, or from watching T.V. either. If I read something, however, I retain it.

Yes I do have this.

I believe it is the main thing that's held me back all these years because it has made me unconfident because I can't understand verbal instructions.

Interviews are a nightmare. I just end up giving an answer based on what I think the question was and I'm scared to tell them that I have a problem because of discrimination.

I also never understand song lyrics so I make my own up.

The odd thing is though I can hear perfectly well on the telephone.

I can only understand people on the telephone if the phone is on my left ear. If I put it to my right ear, while I can hear the person just fine, I can make out very little of what they're actually saying.