Anyone have this hearing problem?

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Wherever I am, I can only really hear/concentrate on whatever the LOUDEST thing in the room is!

If there's machinery, etc, I can't hear the person talking, even though my teammates carry on a conversation!

In a crowded room, all the conversations blend together and I find it REALLY hard to concentrate on only the one in front of me....




...what to do about it? I have no idea. No hearing-test doctor seems to know or care.

It's very common if not present in everyone with ASD's, so will just have to learn to live with it and tell your friends that you don't hear that well in those situations.

I seem to have this problem too. If there is noise around, it's hard to hear someone. Like I wouldn't hear my name being called when I be on the computer because I have the TV on and when someone is in the shower and I am calling their name and they respond, I wouldn't hear them because of the running water. It's even hard to talk on the phone with people around too because of all the talking. At work I'm supposed to have the speaker off on my radio and use it like a phone but it's really hard to hear the office clerk because of all the noise.
It seems like my family members have this problem too. My brothers have done it, they don't wouldn't respond if you call their name but how do I know I just didn't hear them or they were so busy concentrating on what they are doing, they zoned everything out what's going on outisde the rec room. My mother has this problem too because she has said she can't hear me or she has to go because she can't hear me (this be when I call her on the cell phone and she be ina noisy restaurant or at a game). So I don't know if this is a aspie thing since it happens to NTs too or maybe it's just my family only since they are my family so I think this is normal.

Talking with somebody on the phone I always turn TV or music off because I simply wouldn't be able to concentrate on my interlocutor's words (or even to hear them properly). I'd be concentrating on the noises from background instead and I always found it strange that my mother never did it.

It sounds like Auditory Processing Disorder. It doesn't show up on standard hearing tests because it is of neurological origin. However, some doctors are aware of it and there is a way to test for it. I have been diagnosed with it.

yeah, i also get really stressed out trying to process two different things I'm hearing at once, ie. tv on and someone trying to talk to me, loud music and someone trying to talk to me etc

I have that problem, too. Look up CAPD or Centralized Auditory Processing Disorder on a medical web site like WebMD and see if the symptoms fit.

I have the same problem. If there are many noises at once or many people are talking at once in a close area, I start to feel very stressed and find myself jumping back and forth between the different noises or conversations and can't focus on one. It's very frustrating and confusing, and I can't shut the rest of it out to concentrate on one thing!!

I have this problem as well. No matter how hard I try to listen to somebody talking to me while there's noise in the background, I cannot for the life of me get it right the vast majority of the time. It also doesn't help that I can't hear certain audio frequencies, and find many other frequencies quite painful to my ears (such as the sound of a loud family member with verbal diarroea). It sucks not being able to be near audio emitting equipment for very long, especially when I want to wear headphones for more than an hour a day.

It used to be called Central Auditory Processing Disorder, but the name was recently changed to Auditory Processing Disorder.

My parents turn the radio off too when they answer their cell phones. I do the same. I am never positive sure I have a auditory processing disorder.

Indeed, for many years not only has it been very difficult, if not impossible to block out the auditory stimuli that I dont need at the time but often due to processing difficulties when really most of anything is happening along with the person speaking to me I must say 'what?' at least once, sometimes more to not only process what was said but also to formulate a response, sometimes I simply do not understand what was said to me because for whatever reason, be it over stimulation or whatever, cannot understand what was said and I often reply when I get weird looks or whatever that I am half deaf due to having many ear infections as a child.

In school my parents were worried I was hard of hearing, yet I did just fine on the hearing test, like everyone else that posted above. This is very difficult and only recently have I really understood what was happeing and have mitigated the problem a little bit, however I realize I will be this way for the rest of my life, as you all will be to most likly, another cold hard reality of being on the spectrum.

what i find most annoying is when im trying to hear what someone is saying, but i feel that sensation that you do when your not listening - slightly cloudy in you ears, even though you ARE listening because you want to know what they are saying. so many people think im thick or just wont bother repeating things to me again because i find the simplest sentance so hard to understand. it often gets to the point people fell reluctant to involve me in converstaions.
i can destinguish yet whether it's worse in a crowded or noisy room, other than if someone calls to me unexpectantly so my heads not prepared for verbal interaction then i have to aske them to repeat themselves atleast once.

steff x

Yes, APD. And there is specific testing for it. But it doesn't have anything to do with hearing as far as pitch and volume. It's a processing issue where there's greater difficulty separating out sounds.

Sometimes, with words, similar sounding words might prove more difficult as well to discern from one another and lip-reading and context become necessary (i.e., "ball" versus "fall" etc.). It's usually consonants with shorter sounds which cause more problems.

I've always had that problem. If there are multiple sound sources I hear whichever of them is loudest.