My ears are weird...

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Yea, this occasionally happens to me, sometimes the comment has to be repeated a few times before i catch it.

I thought I was the only one with that problem. It is even worse at work where there is a great deal of
background noise, trying to sift and filter out speech can be quite a chore for me. My hearing is very
sensitive and I have low pain threshold for noise or loud music.

For the record, I DID mention CAPD! Maybe it is just that I notice it more now, etc... but my way of listening to people now DOES fit CAPD.

Steve

I got picked on in junior high because I had really small ears.

When I was a very young man, around 5 or 6, I had severe ear infections in both ears, and had to have ear tubes in my ear drums for a year. I had to put cotton in each ear, cover each ear with large wool pads, and cover all of that with a very tight shower cap, just to take a bath. I couldn't swim at all.

This was all done after they found I couldn't hear the teacher at all unless I sat in the very front row.

After that, my hearing changed dramatically.

I cannot hear mid tones, and some peoples voices are nothing but muffled sounds that I cannot discern words from.

Yet my hearing range goes all the way up into the mid 25,000 hertz range, because I can hear the sound of the electron gun in the cathode ray tubes of televisions. For example, the moment you turn on the television, with sound muted, I can hear the EXTREMELY loud EXTREMELY high range screetching sound many rooms away from the TV. I can tell if someone's TV is on in someone's house by walking by on the sidewalk, even if their sound is muted, because I can hear those electrons so keenly. Computer monitors, however, fire them off at 45,000 hrtz so I cannot hear that at all, only dogs can.

i saw you mention CAPD with AS in the NLD thread...

can you have CAPD with NLD?

think i have CAPD as i always "mishear" people... and am guilty of saying "huh?" all the time... but i actually wind up hearing what was said like right as the person is repeating what they just said to me

Don't forget earwax. Gross, whatever. I had ear infections as a kid and never had any noticeable wax buildup until I was 23 and I thought I was losing my hearing.

I have CAPD, I'm pretty sure. Often when someone is talking I just hear "noise" but not words. The phone is even worse. Often when I'm in a conversation I guess what is being said by the person's tone of voice.

Definitely that could be the problem. I still recommend seeing an audiologist though, because they will test your pure-tone hearing as well as for CAPD, if you mention that as a concern. You probably have some audiologists in the area, especially if there is a university nearby with an audiology or speech pathology program. Hearing loss is nothing to sneeze at, especially for someone who already has social difficulties due to AS. Hearing loss can be very isolating, and the earlier someone is fitted with a hearing aid, the better success they generally have (I think this is due to the atrophy of some neuronal connections in the brain after long-term lack of use or something similar).

One other thing I forgot to mention is that I'm better at hearing something further away rather than right in front of me. But not always because there was this one time there was a fire at school and the firetrucks came with the sirens on. Anyway, Mariah, whom has full-blown autism was plugging her ears saying it was too loud while I could barely even hear it! Yeah, I have problems. But I'll be sure to ask my mom about CAPD. Thanks for your suggestions everyone!

I don't know, Sedaka. I'm the only one of my family of 3 aspies who has it. It seems like you could since it isn't a part of AS, but comorbid to AS.

Today I thought about starting a new topic for something similar. I was in a meeting, and an IDIOT called on the rooms speaker phone. I ended up answering figuring it was someone that missed the meeting. She INSISTED on talking with this HORRIBLE voice that hit a frequency that is literally PAINFUL to me. She kept asking STUPID questions(She was apparantly a telemarketer trying to HARASS us into helping her get business.), and I felt like plugging my ears and just screaming *****SHUT UP*****! But nobody else seemed to be in pain, etc... The best I could do without looking TOTALLY crazy was kick away from the phone, and hope she would hang up.

Steve