People flip out if I can't hear them

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I likely have auditory processing disorder, still trying to find someone around here that can accurately give me a formal diagnosis.

Twice in the last week I have had customer service role type people flip out at me when I asked them to repeat what they said because I could not hear it. I tried to frame it as my problem and pointed out the distracting sounds that drown out what they said and tried to do so in a civil manner. Why does this seem to outrage people?

bad customer service

It seems that we live in a world of ever decreasing patience perhaps due to the fast delivery and instant fullfillment of technology and other aspects of the modern world. At least that's what I think. I have issues listening to others talk as well and often have to ask them to repeat, however i do catch background noise more easily.

"you didn't hear/understand me the first time, therefor you weren't paying enough attention".

that is the general assumption in these situations, and your explanations will be seen as excuses: they are able to block out the sounds around them, so there is no reason why you can't/


many people are just unable and/or unwilling to accept people being different, these are jerks, and as a customer service rep, you will meet them all.
nothing you can do about it but smile and nod, unfortunately

Try not to take it personally when you get bad customer service. That line of work doesn't exactly attract rockstars (or rocket scientists).

People also flip out if If I can't hear them, also when I can't speak up. (I have a verrrrry low tone voice)

Google "Seinfeld" and "low talker".
The reference is a bit dated, but then so am I.

I think an audiologist can give you a formal diagnosis if you want one, but if you are on the spectrum, I'm not sure if an audiologist can help. I suspect that it's a part of sensory processing issues, at least in my case. I can hear pretty well for a person in her forties (like I can hear a ball of paper hit the floor), but if there is background noise, a person talking to me will just sound like they are making nonsensical buzzing noises. I also have significant problems processing speech even in the best of conditions, according to the psychologist who screened me for ASD. I lose track of the conversation or get the words mixed up. If I go to happy hour with my co-workers, I usually just sit there trying to figure out what everyone is talking about.

I try to tell people I have difficulties hearing people if there is background noise (I don't mention the Aspgerger's). People do still get angry for some reason. I ignore them, if possible, or go to their manager if it's something I really need or I just got annoyed enough to complain. It seems more to be an issue with people in lower paying jobs or industries where there are likely to be a lot of angry customers (like my local subway system, which breaks down regularly).

They are right, an Audiologist or an SLP are the place to start for assessment.
If they can't figure you out they can refer to Neuropsych. et al to further investigate.

Who have you dealt with so far?

I haven't gone to anyone to get a formal diagnosis on the processing disorder. I had a regular hearing test done in the 1990's. At the time I assumed it was hearing loss but the test showed I had good hearing at that point. I don't think a processing disorder was even considered at that time. That test was done for the same reasons, couldn't hear when there was background noise, would miss the first words someone said. I would hear them speaking but it would be garbled. Is there something specific I need to ask for or someone beyond a generic audiologist I should seek out?

I have wasted a considerable amount of time and money on my non ASD related health problems over the years so I try to make sure the professional I am going to see actually has the capacity to properly deal with whatever the potential problem is first. We also have a large number of low quality doctors around here who are great if you have an easy to solve problem. If it requires something not in the computer doctors desk reference they are utterly lost.

I have seen some programs that supposedly improve auditory processing disorder. Most seemed to be some sort of listening exercises. Has anyone actually used such a thing and had any success?