Does Anyone Appear To Have Good Hearing For Some Things

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I am able to hear a fly buzzing after caught in spiders web in the next room , hear the hum of my PC in the other room , hear every creak and groan the house makes but struggle to hear what my GF says 2 feet away from me. I think it might be background noise that interferes with my hearing.

Most people think I'm hard of hearing or ignorant due to the amount of times I ask people to repeat themselves yet I can hear things that other people can't.

I wonder if there's any point me going for a hearing test as I have excellent hearing for some things.

Yep. That’s me in a nutshell.

Some people call it “selective hearing”—but I don’t agree.

It’s more like I have some sort of auditory processing disorder. I sometimes think gs are bs, for example.

I have very sharp hearing for sounds. But I also have auditory processing disorder. My ears are fine, it's my brain that's broken. Same goes with my tinnitus. My ears aren't actually ringing, my brain is.

Bionic hearing is called hyperacusis. I can also hear distant, tiny sounds very easily, and they drive me to distraction as a form of sensory overload. I've had tinnitus 24/7 for a decade but it doesn't block those small sounds. In contrast there are other frequencies or volumes such as 'conversation level' that my brain tunes out because those ranges are easily accessible. It seems my brain forgets to process the easier volumes because it's working so hard on detecting the tiny sounds.

Likewise loud music at a gig doesn't bother me at all, because I like the sound.

I'm likely going for a new hearing test soon myself. Some hearing aids filter out the extraneous instead of intensifying every sound. Earplugs can also help. Hit up Magna for the details of good brands.

My husband has the same issue.
It's not hearing, it's processing what you have heard. Parsing it so the words gain their meaning.

I have issues with processing certain sounds. For example, if it is very noisy in the background and someone tries to talk to me, I keep asking for them to repeat themselves. Yet I can hear the very faint sound the power strip in my room emits when it's turned on.

I agree with previous posters - a processing thing rather than anything physical. Until I got into my forties, I could easily hear things like ultra-sonic pest-repellers etc., and even now, often pick up on things that no-one else can hear even if they're trying to listen. So, definitely nothing wrong with the physical equipment.

My brain's sensitivity seems to depend on a lot of things...

- What am I paying attention to at the moment? In a flow-state (hyper-focused)? I won't notice my name called from right next to me. Can't sleep at night? That car alarm on the other side of the city is deafening.

- Am I in control of the sound, or is it unpredictable to me? Me doing hoovering/drilling? Not nice, but I can manage it. Moth fluttering around in the next room? Intolerable!

- What kind of sound? Dawn chorus? Beeeaaauuutiful! Babbling voices in a bar/restaurant/bus-station! Run, run, escape, sanctuary!! !

- Stressed out? Please, someone give me a pencil to burst my eardrums with!! !!