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. Itâs the filtering out that is lacking.
So you donât have hearing loss; you have a neurological processing problem right?
Henh???
Dude - thatâs been done already.
The term for this is âcentral auditory processing disorderâ CAPDs are more common in males than females (and youâre âmaleâ 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 theyâre all related somehow. Difficulty âfilteringâ (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.
Iâve never been formally diagnosed with a CAPD but my brother has and I have similar symptoms, so thatâs 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 Iâve tested you. You can hear when youâre paying attention and want to hear. I know your ears work. You donât have to look at me and read my lips. You can overhear other peoplesâ conversations when you want. Ambient noise isnât an issue. Youâre just too fucking lazy to actually listen. Iâm 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 donât 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 doesnât 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. Whatâs that one word youâre saying, mouse? Oh, you said house. Yeah, I get that.
I adjust my speech so foreigners understand me. Iâve worked as a military linguist. Iâve had to ask people speaking foreign languages to repeat themselves a lot. But if I didnât understand, I pause a moment, try to replay it in my head, and figure out what they probably said. If Iâm 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 âhuh?â hoop two or three times because theyâre too fucking lazy, and just donât give a damn, to listen to what Iâm saying. âOoh, a shiny object! Huh?â I said⌠âOoh, another shiny object! Huh?â
blowero called it their inner mind self-chatter. Thatâs right on. Show me some respect. If youâre distracted by something else, let me know. Donât flip me off with the âhuh?â thing because you canât, and wonât bother to listen.
Inigo: " [Something] "
Person: âHuh?â
Inigo: âWhat?â
Person: âWhatâŚâ
Inigo: âDid you just say something?â
Sometimes Iâll mumble just to get that one going. I donât have a lot of friends.
Oh really? Well Mister Super Hearing, maybe when there is some noise, you can fucking sound off like youâve got a pair. Maybe weâre 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. Weâre not distracted, itâs noisy and you are too lazy and canât 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 isnât about you either, bub. I got your respect and your shiny object. Right here.
Didnât I just say ambient noise isnât an issue? Youâre one of those "Iâm too distracted by the shiny object & voices in my head to fucking pay any attention âhuh?â people arenât you?
You said âAmbient noise isnât an issueâ, which I took to mean, you donât care how noisy it is, just so you donât have to talk louder and maybe hurt yourself. Gee, letâs fuck with the people who have a tin ear. Maybe background noise is a good thing; it drowns out the bullshit.
No, Iâm talking about people for whom ambient noise isnât a problem. Iâm talking about people who see, and hear my lips start to move and reflexively say âhuh?â 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 âhuh?â Then you say lets go buy some new toys and your kid says âlets go!!!â Your kid doesnât have an ambient noise hearing problem and even if you purposely mumbled lets go buy some toys heâd still hear it.
Some people always, always, always say âhuh?â 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, itâs fucking rude when itâs gotten to be such a habit you cut people off with a âhuh?â before theyâve gotten three words out.
When I was a teenager, I used the âauto-huh?â response to get a few more seconds to consider and develop my answer. Itâs 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 youâd pay for my dance lessons?
Dad: Huh?
Me: (quietly) So, Iâm thinking of moving to CaliforniaâŚ
Dad: What?! Thatâs a bad idea. You have no idea what itâs like to be on your own youâll never make it blah, blah, blahâŚ
Sometimes with chronic Huh-ers, after the first repetition, I like to employ the equally passive aggressive, petulant âNever mindâ (accompanied by Deep Sigh). I wonât repeat it no matter what.
In that case, I owe you a huge apology. Iâve met people with âselective hearingâ, 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 âHuh?â means is, âI just got word that my mother is dying of terminal cancer, and my wife is suggesting that we go for a trial separation, and Iâm not overly confident that I wonât 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 Jeremyâs soccer game is flat-out boring, I am finding it hard to focus on it for some reason.â
In situations like that, a better response than âHuh?â is the classic âReally!..I seeâŚWell, how about thatâŚUh-huhâŚExcuse me, gotta go now. Great talking to you!â
Saying âHuh?â instead just prolongs the agony by encouraging the other person to repeat everything theyâve said.
Iâm 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. Iâve had former roommates in Cincinnati, OH who chronically âhuh-edâ me. I ALWAYS responded âNever mind!â when they did. I just fear that if I had a job that involved interacting with customers Iâd 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 Iâve been unemployed.
I have neurological auditory processing issues, but if I donât understand what theyâre saying, I just LET IT SLIDE, unless it was a question. If it was a question, I say something to the effect of, âCan you rephrase your question?â 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.