It would not help… a hearing aid amplifies everything, including the ambient noise. Like I said earlier, when it is quiet, my hearing is good. It’s the filtering out that is lacking.
So you don’t have hearing loss; you have a neurological processing problem right?
Henh???
Dude - that’s been done already.
The term for this is “central auditory processing disorder” CAPDs are more common in males than females (and you’re “male” for this purpose if you have only one X chromosome) and are often found in association with autism, hyperactivity, chronic fatigue, and dyslexia, which leads some neurologists to suspect that they’re all related somehow. Difficulty “filtering” (as SteveG1 describes) is a major indication of having a CAPD. Highly intelligent individuals often compensate through predictive listening (as rivulus describes); less intelligent individuals may appear to have a hearing impairment.
I’ve never been formally diagnosed with a CAPD but my brother has and I have similar symptoms, so that’s probably what I have.
My problem is a terrible frequency response, I have almost no high frequency hearing. It is the result of too many garage bands in the 60s, and too much shooting with inadequate hearing protection.
I have the exact same thing from playing the drums. I think it was the cymbals right at ear level that did it. Sometimes I get so tired of getting people to repeat themselves that I just have to ignore them before I break something. It gets really old at work, where there is pretty much constant background noise.
I have total sympathy for those of you with genuine difficulties hearing. But I said in my OP that I’ve tested you. You can hear when you’re paying attention and want to hear. I know your ears work. You don’t have to look at me and read my lips. You can overhear other peoples’ conversations when you want. Ambient noise isn’t an issue. You’re just too fucking lazy to actually listen. I’m not talking about having a conversation with the airline pilot in a flaming cockpit who at the moment, is trying to pull the plane out of a death spin. I don’t interrupt people who are in the middle of doing something and expect them to fully concentrate on me.
I said my SO has that hearing problem where her ears work perfectly, but her brain doesn’t process things correctly. So I have to speak a little more slowly, clearly, then pause and wait for her to replay it in her mind, figure out what I said and respond. Or ask me to repeat it, a little more slowly this time. What’s that one word you’re saying, mouse? Oh, you said house. Yeah, I get that.
I adjust my speech so foreigners understand me. I’ve worked as a military linguist. I’ve had to ask people speaking foreign languages to repeat themselves a lot. But if I didn’t understand, I pause a moment, try to replay it in my head, and figure out what they probably said. If I’m not sure, then a polite, pardon? Wie bitte? Kak, povtori pozhaluista? is a lot more respectful than huh? Huh? Huh?
I hate it when stupid lazy people make me jump through the “huh?” hoop two or three times because they’re too fucking lazy, and just don’t give a damn, to listen to what I’m saying. “Ooh, a shiny object! Huh?” I said… “Ooh, another shiny object! Huh?”
blowero called it their inner mind self-chatter. That’s right on. Show me some respect. If you’re distracted by something else, let me know. Don’t flip me off with the “huh?” thing because you can’t, and won’t bother to listen.
Inigo: " [Something] "
Person: “Huh?”
Inigo: “What?”
Person: “What…”
Inigo: “Did you just say something?”
Sometimes I’ll mumble just to get that one going. I don’t have a lot of friends.
Oh really? Well Mister Super Hearing, maybe when there is some noise, you can fucking sound off like you’ve got a pair. Maybe we’re fucking sick of people who mumble unimportant bullshit, and compound it by turning away, so even more sound is pointed in the wrong fucking direction. We’re not distracted, it’s noisy and you are too lazy and can’t be bothered to speak loud enough to carry over it. If I ever was just not interested, maybe you were too fucking boring to begin with. The fucking world isn’t about you either, bub. I got your respect and your shiny object. Right here.
Didn’t I just say ambient noise isn’t an issue? You’re one of those "I’m too distracted by the shiny object & voices in my head to fucking pay any attention “huh?” people aren’t you?
You said “Ambient noise isn’t an issue”, which I took to mean, you don’t care how noisy it is, just so you don’t have to talk louder and maybe hurt yourself. Gee, let’s fuck with the people who have a tin ear. Maybe background noise is a good thing; it drowns out the bullshit.
No, I’m talking about people for whom ambient noise isn’t a problem. I’m talking about people who see, and hear my lips start to move and reflexively say “huh?” before even listening to what I was trying to say.
Kinda sorta like when you tell your kid to clean his room and he says “huh?” Then you say lets go buy some new toys and your kid says “lets go!!!” Your kid doesn’t have an ambient noise hearing problem and even if you purposely mumbled lets go buy some toys he’d still hear it.
Some people always, always, always say “huh?” and make you repeat yourself even when they did hear you.
I understand how kids and pets have selective hearing. We all have that to an extent. In adults though, it’s fucking rude when it’s gotten to be such a habit you cut people off with a “huh?” before they’ve gotten three words out.
When I was a teenager, I used the “auto-huh?” response to get a few more seconds to consider and develop my answer. It’s not like I would have had anything to hide when I was a teen… 
My dad definitely had the passive-aggressive variety of hearing loss. It used to drive me crazy.
Mom: Bill, can you take out the trash?
Dad: Huh?
Me: Remember when you told mom that you’d pay for my dance lessons?
Dad: Huh?
Me: (quietly) So, I’m thinking of moving to California…
Dad: What?! That’s a bad idea. You have no idea what it’s like to be on your own you’ll never make it blah, blah, blah…
Sometimes with chronic Huh-ers, after the first repetition, I like to employ the equally passive aggressive, petulant “Never mind” (accompanied by Deep Sigh). I won’t repeat it no matter what.
In that case, I owe you a huge apology. I’ve met people with “selective hearing”, and I swear, even the comicbook hero Daredevil would be jealous of some of them. THOSE people piss me off too. Just remember, not all of us are doing that.
Poly: Or, in all cases, it might be that what “Huh?” means is, “I just got word that my mother is dying of terminal cancer, and my wife is suggesting that we go for a trial separation, and I’m not overly confident that I won’t be included in the next round of layoffs, and while I have far more respect for you than to suggest that your discussion of young Jeremy’s soccer game is flat-out boring, I am finding it hard to focus on it for some reason.”
In situations like that, a better response than “Huh?” is the classic “Really!..I see…Well, how about that…Uh-huh…Excuse me, gotta go now. Great talking to you!”
Saying “Huh?” instead just prolongs the agony by encouraging the other person to repeat everything they’ve said.
I’m so glad I found this thread. I always have, and always will, get so easily irritated at being asked to repeat anything for ANY reason. I’ve had former roommates in Cincinnati, OH who chronically “huh-ed” me. I ALWAYS responded “Never mind!” when they did. I just fear that if I had a job that involved interacting with customers I’d get fired for giving that kind of response. If someone can tell me a polite way to refuse to repeat my spoken utterances to a supervisor or customer at work, that would help a lot so that I can finally get a job after all these years that I’ve been unemployed.
I have neurological auditory processing issues, but if I don’t understand what they’re saying, I just LET IT SLIDE, unless it was a question. If it was a question, I say something to the effect of, “Can you rephrase your question?” I know sign language but there are only TWO people I ever get to use it with: my counselor and my former roommate in Santa Ana, CA. I DEMAND that other people with hearing impairments do their part to ensure they catch what is said withOUT repetitions (examples: use of hearing aids, other assistive listening devices, sign language, other non-auditory communication modes). I refuse to be on the telephone for a long time especially if me, my caller, or both of us are using CELL phones. I refuse to communicate verbally in noisy environments, except with law enforcement (who never seems to have anything to say to me cuz I am a law-abiding citizen who takes responsibility for his safety).
Zombie reported.
Zombie reporter reported.