struggling with auditory information

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A lot of autistic people struggle to learn or absorb auditory information or information conveyed through speech by others (as opposed to text - many autistic people will need subtitles when watching video clips or films etc.)

Are there any specific kinds of auditory information that you find the most difficult to absorb? Instructions are generally difficult for many. Is it usually based on the visual content of the information - the more visual the better (so u can imagine it) or how many details you are required to remember and keep in mind?

Sometimes difficulty with auditory information is down to a specific disability associated with autism, auditory-language disability (I cannot remember the specific name) and sometimes it's maybe due to being more of a visual learner or having poor working memory (so you'd prefer to read rather than listen).

I'd like to know about some of your experiences with different kinds of learning, especially auditory learning, what your reasons are for struggling and if there are any specific kinds of auditory information you find easy to absorb.

For me emotive, concrete stories are the easiest to remember because they are more visual...also the pace with which they are told makes it easier. People tend to tell these stories more slowly. It can also be easier when people don't look you in the eye. Instructions and anything more abstract which I can't visualise can be very hard unless it's an idea that I'm already familiar with. Anyone relate?

I have trouble taking verbal instructions and in the past (especially when I was younger) it has made me feel really unconfident.

It's as though I just really don't understand what is being said to me but if it was written down in the form of a list I would understand it perfectly well.

In order to properly process and remember auditory information I have to visualize a little animation to go along with it, and that takes some time to do. I like reading because I can go at my own pace and sometimes I have to read a sentence 2-3 times before I can grasp it's meaning.

For me the easiest auditory information to process and remember is facts or opinions stated simply and directly like "the Earth orbits the Sun" or "I like cheese".

I cannot listen to lectures. I can't sit in class and listen to the bla bla bla. I always zoned this out even as a small child and I used to think I would grow out of it but never had. When I was young I would fidget and not sit still so that was their reason for saying I had ADD and possibly ADHD when I was just bored and couldn't listen to lot of talking (maybe it was stimming I was doing to cope), another reason why I hated school.

I think what works best with me is to not talk too much for lectures and to show visual information, show us text to read so I can read it and visualize. I always had a hard time with abstract even if it's written. I can watch a video with pictures and learn from it t it's very difficult to listen if it's not something I am interested in. I also cannot take notes because I don't know what information is important and when I write anything down I cannot remember how it was exactly said so I would need to rewind it to hear it again to get it down exactly. Also I cannot take notes and still listen or else I miss what was said. I would always prefer if teachers just hand out their instructions than giving out a lecture or just hand things out for us to read. Then have us ask questions if we don't understand something in it. I think less the talking there is, the better the class will be for me and if it's something I am actually interested in or else I can't retain the information.

But the weird thing is if someone is actually telling a story, I can actually process it better like this morning my mom told my dad a story about a dream she had and I was able to visualize and it was pretty realistic and my brother was in his and so were their renters and my dad's old friend who is also a lawyer and they had to deal with a $50,000 bill because their renters put up a nice fancy rock wall and vinyl fence around their yard and it was $100,000 and my parents agreed to pay half for a vacant fence because of Montana law. (I don't know if such law actually exists) so they went to court and my brother wrote a letter to the state who is also a lawyer and my parents sent them a $3,000 check because it was what they had agreed to for the fence that is basic enough which is what they actually agreed to, not to some fancy stone fence. They had won. But yet if it's lecture I cannot listen to it.

I can learn through auditory information. I believe that I may visualize it as I'm listening. I cannot really look at a person when they are talking, in order to process the speech. So I must stare into space, doodle, fidget with something, etc. Then I'm fine.

I cannot easily isolate speech from background noise and will not understand it, even though I can hear it. I've found that others in the same situation with me do not have trouble hearing and understanding it, so I know that it's just me.

I can't hear very well at times on the phone, because the speech can be muffled or there is background noise.

I have very good auditory working memory. I can replay songs in my head easily, also.

My guess is that other things become a distraction too easily, so that it why I cannot look at a person's face who is talking to me. The concentrating on the face is a distraction, with the intensity of looking in the eyes. This is not usually the case when the person is not talking to me directly.

With the processing speech with other sounds, I'm guessing that I cannot filter out background noise as well as most people.

I do learn well from videos, which include both auditory and visual information. I can process both and look at the face of the person in the video. Probably because I do not have to think of reacting to facial expressions, and do not feel threatened/overwhelmed by eye contact, as there is none.

I'm very much an auditory learner. I read slowly due to dyslexia despite good reading comprehension, I was born with a rare low vision disorder & my brain has problems processing things I do see visually(like I could be looking rite at something I can see well & not process that it's there rite away). My problems with auditory information is that I loss focus due to my ADD & I can get directions & other information confused & mixed up due to my dyslexia.

I do, sometimes. It doesn't help having a lot of background noises and having no filters. And my native language is rather spoken faster than in English.

I kept mishearing voices for noise. And I hear voices as noises if other noises are sudden and/or louder.
Misheard people for mispronouncing, or is actually saying a different kind of word. Like, mishearing "Naguho"(landslide-past) for "Unano"(midget). Especially when names are involved...
Misheard them for calling me when not. (Or in inversed)
And when someone gives me verbal instructions, I have someone to repeat it or write it down. Or even draw it.

It's rather annoying. But I have no problems with memorizing with sounds or even voices.

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I personally hate taking paper notes because I find it quite hard to write anything that's readable because my handwriting sucks, I don't like the sound a pencil makes when scratching across paper, and I can't easily write and listen at the same time. I eventually developed a strategy of mental note taking that works quite well for me where I basicly create images from what is said.

For example, I had to memorize the names of a bunch of bones recently in biology. I remember that the jaw bone is called the mandible because when I heard it I noted that it sounded a lot like Mandelbulb and so I immagined a skull with a Mandelbulb instead of a lower jaw. My system is not perfect but it's pretty good, I could name about half of the bones we went over in my biology class after just listening to the lecture once. Recording the lecture is definitely helpful if I didn't get everything and it helps reveal anything I may have missed. It is definitely harder to do in classes I have little interest in.

School lectures were manageable because they were usually preceded by assigned reading, included slides listing important points, and breaks in the monologue to write notes or ask questions.

My biggest struggle was following the pastor's daily church sermons. There were no assigned readings, no visual aides, and no breaks in the monologue to catch up. I would try to follow for a short time, then stop to process the information, and then be completely lost. The rest of the service, we just followed along in our hymnals using one of only a few traditional services (that I eventually had memorized).

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31st of July, 2013
Diagnosed: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Auditory-Verbal Processing Speed Disorder, and Visual-Motor Processing Speed Disorder.

Weak Emerging Social Communicator (The Social Thinking-­Social Communication Profile by Michelle Garcia Winner, Pamela Crooke and Stephanie Madrigal)

"I am silently correcting your grammar."

I have problems with any sort of auditory information. When I was working (I am retired now), I asked my supervisors to write their directions in an email. Most cooperated and I was able to get my work done.

What I've found is that, when I look people in the eye, I cannot understand what they are saying. So I have to glance away in order to absorb what they are saying.