anyone else has problem understanding what people are saying

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do you have a problem understanding what people say, if it's slightly unclear, although nts CAN understand?
i'm better than nts at hearing words in difficult conditions (accent, fast speech, static) 1%  1%  [ 1 ]
i'm as good as an average nt at hearing words in difficult conditions 2%  2%  [ 2 ]
i'm somehow below average 54%  54%  [ 49 ]
i'm terrible 43%  43%  [ 39 ]
Total votes : 91

Soham
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17 Jan 2013, 4:17 am

I used to ask "what?" so often that my dad and grandpa would get angry at me (They didn't know about my AS, I didn't know about it at the time either)...they also wanted me to look at them when ever they were talking to me, this obviously didn't help.


But yea, I've always had a hard time hearing language in particular. My sense of hearing is just fine, I've had it tested quite a few times through out my life, it's just making sense of the noise coming out of someones mouth and putting it into language. I sometimes have trouble with verbal instructions, conversations on the phone, two-way radios, accents, and situations where there is a lot of stimulus. Sometimes I'll close my eyes and try to put all my focus into listening to what the person is saying.



FLmom1
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17 Jan 2013, 2:47 pm

Wow, this really hits home for me. The other day my 6 year old son (dx PDD NOS and ADHD) said, "Mom, I don't understand what you're saying! I don't understand!" When I asked him what he meant, he said he didn't get what I was saying. Later he told me that I was talking too fast. I slowed down and asked him if it was better, and he said yes. So I am wondering if he too has a processing delay of sorts with verbal info. We were having somewhat of an "emotionally charged" conversation when he told me he didn't understand, so I don't think that helped. I forget exactly what we were talking about, but I was asking him questions and I guess he just couldn't keep up. Poor kiddo! For years his speech therapist has been saying she thinks he might have auditory processing disorder vs. PDD NOS (there's no doubt about the ADHD). His doctor told me that anyone with either at least moderate ADHD, or a language disorder would also fail an auditory processing test, so getting diagnosed with "auditory processing disorder" wouldn't help much since people with all the other disorders have similar problems with processing auditory info. My son clearly had sensory sensitivity to sound when he was younger, but seems to have grown out of most of it. So do you guys agree with what the doctor said? I do notice that in school (kindergarten) my son will frequently get a wrong answer on something I know he knows the answer to, but its clear he misunderstood the verbal instructions. I always just thought that was his ADHD.....



IceKitten
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17 Jan 2013, 3:05 pm

I have this problem. I'm not terrible, but at times, I find it difficult to hear what people say to me. I usually say "sorry?" until I can hear what they are saying. 8)



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19 Jan 2013, 7:09 pm

felinesaresuperior wrote:
sometimes, in a song, i miss a few words. i hear it again and again, but still look up the words on the internet. same with programs on tv, and talking on the phone.
oh, i understand what people say if they speak clearly, but with the slightest static on the phone, if someone talks too fast, or "swallow" the words, a heavy accent, anything, and i can't understand half of what they say.


I'm the same in those regards. A single background noise or static or anything like that, not to mention two voices at once, like listening to someone while someone else is talking as well, and I am clueless to what I'm hearing. It's like the voices cancel each other out.


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19 Jan 2013, 7:39 pm

I have a lot of trouble with it. But I've learned to adapt. I try to get people into quieter situations when I talk to them. I think I've learned a little bit of lip reading too--this is why I often watch people's mouths when they talk, rather than looking at their eyes.

All in all I get along. I guess I have mild auditory processing disorder, but it's not a huge problem in the grand scheme of things. If an environment is so chaotic that I can't even get the gist of what someone's saying, I'm probably going into shutdown anyhow.


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19 Jan 2013, 8:02 pm

I have difficulties to understand what people are saying.
Often I miss that they are saying something and they call my name to get me into attentin or they say something and I just haer "noise" and they have to repeat what they have said much more slower and articulated.
I have a noise processing disorder, when there is background noise I cannot filter out a human voice.


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19 Jan 2013, 10:30 pm

I also realize that I find it a lot easier to understand when it's a one-on-one conversation though I do still miss some.

But when it's a group meeting or something, it's often impossible for me to keep up with the others and I'm clueless to what's going on. So I natually have no choice but to keep quiet. It's embarrassing if I'm asked for my input because I don't know what to say.



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20 Jan 2013, 7:22 am

Is there a test for auditory processing disorder?

I swear I have it. If someone talks to me before I'm ready, I don't hear what they say. Sometimes, even if I am ready, I don't understand them. It's like I have to tune into their way of speaking before I can hear it. I have trouble with people who are talking too fast. On the rare occasions I call someone on the phone, I often don't hear a distinct greeting such as, "Good morning. XYZ Business, Callum speaking." Rather, it's a jumble of syllables and I can never be sure I've dialled the right number. Like many of the other posters, I can barely follow conversation in a group. One-on-one isn't so bad, especially if I know the person well.

Last semester I had a lecturer with whom I struggled badly. He speaks quickly and quietly and has an accent on top of that. Between that and background shuffling and coughing in the theatre, there were times I missed about 90% of the lecture. It was a complicated subject and I was often so frustrated that I was nearly in tears.



dunya
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20 Jan 2013, 9:25 am

Most of the time I'm OK, but if someone speaks to me unexpectedly I don't often get it and have to ask for a repeat.
Most phone messages I have to listen to twice to make sure I understood it all.

If I am used to someone's accent and patterns of speech I can understand, even a strong accent. But a person I havn't met before I have to learn to "tune in" to their way of speaking.
People speaking quickly are difficult. I have to concentrate to understand.

Occasionally I just can't understand at all. Even if they repeat and speak slowly. I need them to put it into other words because my brain can't process - it's just noise. This doesn't happen very often, thankfully.



shubunkin
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20 Jan 2013, 4:25 pm

Yes its embarrassing --- I dont know how, but I managed to convince myself that not only I was above average at understanding what people were saying, but that I was probably an exceptional listener....? How odd is that!

The truth has hit me only in the last year or so, with the reality that I don't take things in properly. My partner has worked this out with me and it has helped us avoid arguments.

The reality is that I am not only incapable of hearing what people are saying, but that
this has affected every part of my life. I put problems communicating when I had them down to not concentrating... and this is what
I managed to sustain the denial with.

The truth is that I often have to guess what people mean, I don't like asking people to repeat themselves so I usually figure out something and disguise the fact that I'm not sure...

Finding out about auditory processing disorder has been a relief. Wish I'd known before ! I think a lot of aspies have this problem.



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26 Jan 2013, 2:02 am

I can't do verbal instructions that well. If someone startles me I often catch up to that there are words after they have finished speaking, and often understand just the tail end of it. If I'm focusing my attention elsewhere I miss that someone said anything at all. When I'm especially overloaded it doesn't help even if they have my attention and it's quiet around us. It's always lagging a bit compared to how fast I understand written words, so I like subs for everything, for things both my own language and english.
But I still talk fast and prefer when those I talk to do it too, just not unexpectedly. The understanding comes in bursts of full meaning for me anyway, word for word just makes me more confused.

To me these are 3 issues:
1. Filtering out that there are words happening at all and not just noise.
2. Translating the words from noise into meaning.
3. Understanding the subject.



aral
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19 Dec 2016, 2:39 am

Quote:
I've never been tested for any auditory processing issues, but if someone speaks to me unexpectedly, I very often ask them to repeat it. After a few moments, I often realize I heard them the first time but didn't absorb it, so I think I have some sort of auditory processing delay. Background noise can interfere with my understanding of what someone says. I always feel a little awkward when I have to ask someone repeat things like three times before I can figure it out. Verbal instructions can be tricky, especially if the other person is going through them quickly.

And yet, I can still hear the "mosquito" ringtone, even though I'm older than those who can typically hear it. Go figure. :?

I totally get you. I know what you mean. If my I have my sink in high and I'm washing my hands and just like 30 feet away maybe a little less my roommate is in the living room and asks me something, I can't hear her. I mean I heard her fully I'm not deaf but I didn't catch anything she said bc the sink was too loud and my brain couldn't hear both at the same time. So I turn it off and say "sorry the water was too loud, I didn't catch that. Repeat that" she says it again and I hear it perfectly.

Then there's where where she's in the same room sitting on the love seat and I'm literally 3 feet away on the longer couch and she says something like for i.e. "when are you going to get the mail? I wanna go when you go" and I have to ask her "what about the mall?" She said "no. You're getting the mail." I say "ya what about it?" She says "ugg. When are you getting the mail?" I am like "oh I thought you said you wanna to go to the mall or something" it annoys her bc she had to repeat it" but idk wht my deal is. Idk why I do it. I asked a friend and I said that I can hear just fine and have been tested many times as a kid and I am excellent at hearing but sometimes I act like I cant hear. And he said "no it's just like selective hearing I think. Maybe it's like you don't 'hear' if it's not interesting and you her a lot if it's interesting" I was like "hahaha ya I guess that makes sense I kinda do that don't i?" I do time out if its not interesting and if it is I listen its not always voluntary. But I don't think my problems are from that. Idt. If I'm watching a movie at my dad's house i usually watch downloaded ones on his Xbox and I watch with subtitles of the downloaded movie file came with those options bc he LOVES to go in and out of the freaking kitchen Washington hands and has a loud sink faucet and his floor is creaky and his fridge hums LOUDLY after it's opened for more than 20 sec and then.is quiet again. If he's doing any of that or a combo of that I turn the tv up bc for 1, it pisses me off that I'm hearing two things at once and 2, I can't make out what the ppl in movie said bc the kitchen things are distracting me and i miss it. Like for instance ifmy dad goes in the kitchenentrance on the sinkand begins to wash platesor washes his hands because he's been working in the garage and he spends more than 30 seconds washing his handsit pisses me off and it's almost like an OCD, almost like obsession that I have to pause my show and wait for him to get out of the kitchen and go back downstairs so I can have my complete and utter silence before I can start the show again. And if he turns the water off I can turn it back on but he opens the fridge and I re pause it. And then he exits the kitchen and I can turn it back on again but then he walks in front of the TV and I pause and he says "honey, you don't have to keep pausing the show you can keep watching it you don't have to stop because I'm in here. I'm not trying to stop you from watching it you can still watch your show I'm just gonna go back downstairs" but it drives me nuts and I very politely say "it's okay I just can't hear it with all the noise going on" and he apologizes " sorry I didn't realize" which is fine it doesn't always bother me. but sometimes it depends on the accent of the person or I can't exactly explain it it has something to do with the fluctuations of their voice or something I forget what someone told me is why I have trouble with accents more than an NT does even though sometimes they do as well but my ass burgers keeps me from catching accents as well because of the fact that I don't hear the fluctuations in their voice or I forget exactly what it is but if somebody speaks with a strong southern accent or Brooklyn accent or something heavy I have trouble picking it up with a lot of noise going on and therefore I have to have subtitles so that I don't have to keep turning it up for pausing it helps me to read what they're saying since I'm having trouble catching it with all the background noise. I think that's probably why I watch TV in general with the subtitles even when I'm by myself just because any slight noise I make or someone else makes or the dog mix distracts me from picking up what they're saying especially if their voice is kinda heavy so I like to read it as I'm watching because it helps when listening.
If someone talks to me unexpectedly like I'm in the kitchen cutting up a hotdog and I'm focusing on that and then my roommate comes in behind me and I didn't know she was there and she just automatically says something without warning I turn around and say "what? Say that again."
also when I read the twilight books those were really the first books that got me interested in reading and a don't hate to read because of sensory or auditory or anything, but I just don't really ever cared to read and yes I know if you don't read you're no better than somebody that's illiterate because you're not allowing yourself to learn but this isn't really because of that I just don't like reading never find it interesting and rather watch somebody performing the story on TV and to read the story but I remember in high school I got tested on my reading skills and my reading level and found I was a grade behind where I should be. but I really read a book and I sometimes have to think about what I read like for instance mathematical word problem that says if Susie went X amount of feet down the road and the road is X amount of feet how many feet are left or whatever I don't know if it's a word problem that makes you think of a mathematical equation I always get those confused and I have to have them rephrased so that I can understand what I'm being asked or like to test if the test asks a question I have to have somebody with me and read it to me but more so than reading it to me they rephrase the question so that I understand better and then I can pretty much say okay I know the answer but I get confused almost as if it's a trick question when I don't comprehend needed to be rephrased in a way that I would . So when I read a book and kind of like that I just do that with books and it's just not interesting to me when I have that happen while I try to read a chapter book so I just don't care and I physically and mentally understand it better when I can watch somebody act out the scenes if that makes any sense but I don't know if this has anything to do with this subject or if it's on a different thing altogether . But when I read twilight I really for the first time got interested in that was like right when the twilight movies came out I read the first book the year before and it took me the whole year to read it and I was a month behind the movie coming out when I finished the story and then I went to go see it to see how it compared. and when I read the book it took me so long because she speaks with such maturity beyond an 18-year-old would normally talk so I didn't understand the context of what I read a lot. I would read a word that I didn't understand, that I had no clue the meaning of so therefore I had no idea the context of the entire thing and therefore I would have to get out my dictionary and look up that word if I still didn't understand it I would look up a sub word and then I would finally understand and then I would go back with their understanding of that word and reread that paragraph and I finally started to understand and it took me a long time that way but it was the only way I read it and I enjoyed that story it was a fascinating story but I hate that it takes me so long and so I just usually don't care I'm not interested even if it is fascinating because I have to do it that way to read and it's just an interesting usually don't care that's why I read books for six through eighth grade because they're less troubling to read and I don't have to really do that when I read. I pretty much get what I read more. but I never did technically get a diagnosis for this and I don't know if what I experience qualifies as symptoms of it or if I'm experiencing nothing related to this at all I don't know because when I read symptoms for this it really didn't sound like me because it sounded like it was related to children and it sounded like it was very much related to dyslexia and speech therapy type issues and I just don't think that that fits me I don't really think that I qualify for this along those lines but in other ways like what you guys are putting on your responses I really feel like maybe I have some of the same problems that you have so I don't know if it qualifies or not.



EzraS
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19 Dec 2016, 7:47 am

Huh? What? Your catfish stole a cement mixer? Huh?



Fraser_1990
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19 Dec 2016, 8:01 am

I understand what words mean individually. But when words are strung together to form coherent sentences and statements, whether in something i'm reading, or something i'm hearing. My brain doesn't seem to make the necessary connections to allow me to understand the whole picture.

I can read something over and over again, or be told something over and over again, but the meaning behind what i'm reading or hearing, just doesn't seem to sink in.

I don't know if this is an Autistic issue or something co-morbid. It's frustrating as hell though. :(


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19 Dec 2016, 10:48 am

Yes! Moderate hearing loss + hypersensitivity to sound + auditory-verbal processing speed disorder + literal thinking + black-and-white thinking = constant miscommunication.


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19 Dec 2016, 12:37 pm

I have a hard time understanding if there are other conversations going on around me, even if they're not particularly loud. TV on in the background is a HUGE problem for me as I can't understand anything anyone has said with a TV on.

I've also had the frequent issue of asking someone to repeat what they said and in the middle of their repetition, I finally parse what they said the first time. So then I say, "Oh never mind...I just got it."