Do you always hear when someone talks to you?

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Hi,

I wrote this in the new persons area, and I hope it is o.k. if I put it here too. I have a diagnosed mood disorder (undefined). I was wondering if this might be an aspie, schizo, or other characteristic. As a child, I was lost in my own world a lot. I very often didn't hear when someone spoke to me. It has become somewhat better since I've been on anti-anxiety meds, but I still do it sometimes. Just when I'm thinking of something else. Someone can talk directly at me, and I don't hear them.

Thanks,
Nikki

yeah it happens to me from time to time i do hear them usually but i don't hear what they nor do i realize they are talking to me.

I don't have a problem HEARING a person talking to me, but I often have difficulty taking in what is being said...I hear them speaking, but can't make out the words. I'm guessing it is an attention issue or an auditory processing issue, I'm not sure.

That sounds like an auditory processing issue. I have that too and words just get jumbled. I can hear fine but the meaning doesn't always come through.

I'm not sure why you wouldn't hear them unless you are very distracted. Sometimes I don't hear people and it's just because I'm very absorbed in what I'm doing.

Exactly what I experience sometimes. My father had this problem too. I feel it has to do with both, sometimes I can understand a person that just repeats what he said the same way. It's a pretty strange feeling like listening someone chewing words.

Ditto. When I was younger, I could "tune out" what others were saying and be "in my own world," as the OP said. Now, I'm not so sure I was doing it deliberately. I started to notice a PROBLEMATIC hearing deficit in college, and it's gotten progressively worse. I went so far as to be evaluated at a hearing clinic, and they (claim to have) found nothing wrong. I even insisted that they test my ability to hear spoken words (versus the largely useless "tone in the silence test") and came up with 10%-15% hearing loss, which they still said was "no big deal." It's a VERY big deal.

I called it "auditory dyslexia" before I even found this. That's exactly what it feels (sounds?) like.

I hate having to ask people to repeat themselves.

Oddly enough, I can hear small non-verbal sounds that others don't (like someone's cell phone ringing in the next room).

I have auditory processing issues. I sometimes hear someone saying something but I have no idea what they said. I also just daze out in my own little world and I have no idea when people are talking to me until they stand in front of me and wave their hand or shake me.

No kidding, that's the term I used in the search bar to find this discussion. 70% of the queued comments/answers I give to strangers are preceded by "sorry?". It used to be "what" but that's kind of rude. But then again, it's all probably rude to ask people to repeat things three times. I can hear a pin drop, and I can probably point out which cupboard in my house makes which noise blindfolded, but I can't hear a simple instruction sometimes. The weird part is if I take a second, I can probably get it. It's almost like I want them to repeat just to make sure I heard right. Like i'm semi-conscious of what they said, but it automatically elicits a "sorry?"... frustrating.

That's me. I say, "Sorry?" several times a day (switched from saying "What?" too!) and feel like an absolute idiot for having to do so. I pick up on those little noises, too - but I seem to fail mightily at understanding verbal communication.

That is amazing - Taupey Jay1 and Dork girl, that is exactly what I am going through......


I'm not the only one ! !! !

Good to know - I can hear low humming or tiny noises too, but definitely have the auditory dyslexia as someone put it !

What can we do about it?

I do not know, it has been such a long withstanding issue for me. Sometimes it doesn't really frustrate me because I'm used to it, but in a professional environment it's horrible. But then again I tend to overestimate the social significance of my quirks, unfortunately admitting that still doesn't do anything about it.

That is the strangest thing. I've never, ever had this issue - I ALWAYS hear when people are talking to me, always. Even if I'm lost in my own thoughts, I can snap right out of them as soon as I know somebody is talking to me or asking me a question or whatever. My ears are open all the time, even if I'm looking the other way and somebody the other side of me says something, I hear them right away and swing my head round to them to face them.

NTs on the other hand don't do this. Every NT I have ever met sometimes doesn't always ''hear'' when I say something, even though I say it loudly, they just act like I never said anything, and I can tell they really didn't hear. This is partly what has caused Social Phobia; fear of saying something and the other person doesn't hear. I've even been saying something, with somebody looking at me as though they're listening, and then interrupting me mid-sentence, saying something completely irrelevant to what I was in the middle of saying. And don't go thinking that just because I am Aspie it means I interrupt other people or are saying something irrelevant what they don't want to hear - it's not that at all, and this is why I am making a point about it. I never, ever interrupt people, I listen carefully, and I'm good at knowing when to speak, and 8 times out of 10 I am saying something relevant and in time to the conversation. I've even been told by many people that I'm a very easy person to talk to. Perhaps I'm so easy that that is why people interrupt. But the point is, why does every NT I've ever met sometimes mis-hear what I just said, as though they haven't heard what I said at all? Perhaps it's because I don't use other people's names very often (or not at all) in conversations, perhaps?

My problem seems more intrinsic then an attentional thing. Joe90, mentioned that some NTs don't always respond to others because of pre-occupation, which stimuli is more significant to them at that time, etc. I also prick up my ears when someone talks and nearly always acknowledge them. The issue is, when I am at the point of full attention, and am fully acknowledging the person as the most significant stimuli at that point, I still can't always comprehend what they are saying. This is where I say the "sorry's". It's because I assume the other person knows that I am listening, that I get uncomfortable because I'm sure they can tell something is up when one does that 3 times. Also, I don't know about the rest of the other who responded, but I noticed that I must appear deaf to others. I do this thing where I look away from the person and face my right ear to them (my left ear makes voices sound "tinny" if isolated from the right). I squint and make the facial gesture that indicates I'm listening intently (and I am), hopefully without the need for intermittent sorry's. I can dissect a musical piece and isolate melodies played by the various instruments (on a very low volume setting on my iPod), but I do the deaf ear gesture allot when people speak to me. I've also had two hearing tests (headphones + tones of various frequency, right or left ear, sound proof room) which indicated above average hearing. I was referred from my doctor to take these tests because I was complaining of tinnitus at age 8 which I remember since my vivid early memories, but they established that it wasn't tinnitus but that my ears were way too sensitive and was hearing the blood flow around my middle ear.

This sounds EXACTLY like my situation.



I look very intently at the person and attempt to follow their lip movements. Sometimes moving my head helps, but I think that would be off-putting to the customers where I work.



I can sometimes hear a cell phone ring two rooms away when no one else does. The "tone in the silence" hearing tests indicated at least average hearing, if not better, but that's only an indicator of NON-VERBAL sounds, which doesn't help me when I have to talk to people in a noisy environment.

Also, I think it's getting worse. Having to ask people to repeat themselves multiple times is getting awkward.

That happens to me a lot. It was worse when I was younger but it does still happen to me. When I was younger, I'd often not hear at all. When it happens now, people sometimes sound like they're speaking gibberish.

On another note, I also hear people say things when they're not talking. I have psychotic depression.

Since I've been diagnosed, my new special interest is to read as many books on AS as possible. I just finished up Tony Attwood's "Asperger's Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals". Under the chapter titled "language" he mentions that those with AS have been known to have this kind of linguistic processing difficulty and a fluctuating sensitivity to voice in general. I'm reading his "Complete Guide" to AS which I find contains many more subtle descriptions and is thoroughly enlightening. I am assuming he will go into this effect in more depth in later chapters. I'm sure these book titles are redundant on this forum, but I am always amazed when I read spot-on sensory descriptions.