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beckym
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22 Feb 2012, 2:06 pm

I'm an aspie with hearing loss, & I feel like this is the absolute worst combination to have. Has it affected anyone else negatively?



CrazyCatLord
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22 Feb 2012, 2:19 pm

I have severe hearing loss on one ear. My other ear works perfectly fine, but since the brain calculates the direction of sounds based on time- and level-differences between both ears, I can never tell where a sound is coming from. If someone addresses me and I can't see the person, I inevitably look in the wrong direction. Sometimes I turn around, because I get the impression that someone who stands next to me is behind me.

That makes me act even weirder than I already do due to AS and social anxiety. But my good ear can still hear everything, including high-pitched sounds that other people don't hear (such as electronic mosquito repellents or the high-pitched whistle of many computer monitors). My downstairs neighbors have a solar-powered mosquito repellent device in their garden right below my living room window, and it's driving me crazy in the summer. I searched my entire apartment last year because I couldn't figure out where this annoying noise was coming from :x



ghostar
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22 Feb 2012, 2:48 pm

I have pretty bad hearing loss in both ears and it is sometimes a problem. It occasionally affects my balance and I cannot understand people unless I am looking at them much of the time. Quiet, intimate conversations in crowded places are impossible for me.



Looneytunes
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22 Feb 2012, 6:19 pm

Hello BeckyM,

When I was a child I acted inappropriately and I got into a lot of trouble and my family did not understand me or my disability.

My dad would often beat me to within inches of my life.
More then once he blew out both of my ear drums when he struck my ears with his hands while beating me.

I have profound hearing loss in both ears and because I can't hear, I talk louder then other people because I think inside of my mind that if I can't hear them, they can' t hear me.

Most people - unless they see your disability, be it a cast on an arm or leg or a disfigured member, figures that there is nothing wrong with you or that you are just making it up or that you are just naturally loud or obnoxious.

I had a lot of jobs because I couldn't get along with the people that I worked with. A lot is not an exaggeration, because I have had about 70 jobs and I am 47 years old.

The reason I am telling you this is because I am a hard worker, and I am very intelligent, I'm probably smarter then most people that I have worked with and I never miss work, leave early come in late or neglect to do my job properly.

Both of my brothers works for a corporation called Siemens.
I once found a job at a plant ( Siemens) where I had to drive two to two and a half hours each way to work and back.
While I was working, one of the people who was training me gave me strict orders on how he wanted things done and how things were to be done, and not to touch his tools.
He had a habit of walking away from a person while he was talking . training them.
He had a group of 3 people to train for the task we were performing and I was the only person to complain that I couldn't hear what he was saying.

When I complained to him that he needed to face me when he instructed me - as to how he wanted something done - or how to do something,, he got upset and told this bosses that I had a disability.
The employer moved me to 3 other people to train me for the same job in a one day period of time..
I could not handle the fact that Siemens would do this to me and that each person ( trainer ) had their own way of doing things and none of the other trainers did things the same way the first trained did it.

Then, while I was working, the first trainer told me to do a unsafe act.
I Put materials used to build the assembly I was working on (motor drive) - called Glastic - basically a type of fiberglass panel that was electrically non conductive, which kept the electricity inside of the metal box ( Motor Drive ) that I was building on top of the motor drive,, because there was no more room on the floor. I knew not to do it, but I did it because I was told to do it.

Later that day, while I was working, the first trainer needed something that was placed on top of the box I was working on.
He was too lazy to get a ladder to climb up to the proper height to see what he was looking for and the panels slipped and fell off the box, onto my head and I got hurt.

I didn't report the accident, because I was afraid that If I complained they would fire me.
The next day, someone told on me for not telling on him and when I got home from work, they had fired me.
No one wanted to work with me, although I was a fast learner and was producing faster then everyone else.

If you can get some help that works, get it.
If you are old enough to work or can get some type of disability - get it.
The Office of Vocational Rehabilitation will pay for hearing aids if you need them for your job.

You are a beautiful girl
Don't let anyone pick on you, just because you are disabled.



MagicMeerkat
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22 Feb 2012, 6:37 pm

My parents have always thought I was partically deaf or that I have hearing loss becuase I can't always respond to things. I can hear, I just can't understand. Many people talk too fast and often times what people say sounds like gibberish. Traditonal hearing test where you push a button when you hear the tone overwhelm me and I push the button constantly or not at all. The only way someone is going to be able to tell if I am truely deaf is to test my hearing is to put me under and test it the same way they do with babies and animals. My mom thinks I should look into getting a hearing aid, but that's like telling a person who dosen't understand English they need a hearing aid. I've always wanted to learn the language of the Koi-San people of the Kalahari Desert, but my mom thinks that is a language you can only learn if that's what you grew up hearing. Well, I grew up exposed to English and haven't fully mastered that yet.


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Looneytunes
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23 Feb 2012, 1:39 am

I don't know Magic - you seem to write things down pretty good on the computer. At least in my opinion.
I thought that it was just me - but everything that you people are saying is the same things that I know inside.
OVR sent me twice in the past two months to have my hearing checked and to be fitted with hearing aids.
The doctors checked my hearing and said that I confuse words because I miss the first vowel or letter of the word and I guess what was said.
I know I read lips well because that is how I mainly communicate when I talk to people face to face.

The doctor drew a bar graph to show where my hearing loss was at.
Half way between the top and the bottom - there was a flat line and that is where my hearing stops.
Not a normal thing for a person my age.

I have a very high tolerance for sound.
I had a car stereo for a couple of years that would produce about 150 DB of sound and it never bothered me.
156 is about the same amount of noise as a jet engine during take off.

They put some temporary hearing aids on my ears for me to try and see how much of a improvement it would make.
It made things sound different - like turning up the treble on a stereo - but it also amplifies my voice when I talk.

The problem is - when I talk, I can't hear other people talk.
When they tested my hearing, I couldn't even breath - because the sound of my breathing was so loud - I couldn't hear the sounds in the earphones....

I think that you are right about hearing aids might not help, but they couldn't hurt to try.



MagicMeerkat
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23 Feb 2012, 5:00 pm

Looneytunes wrote:
I don't know Magic - you seem to write things down pretty good on the computer. At least in my opinion.
I thought that it was just me - but everything that you people are saying is the same things that I know inside.
OVR sent me twice in the past two months to have my hearing checked and to be fitted with hearing aids.
The doctors checked my hearing and said that I confuse words because I miss the first vowel or letter of the word and I guess what was said.
I know I read lips well because that is how I mainly communicate when I talk to people face to face.

The doctor drew a bar graph to show where my hearing loss was at.
Half way between the top and the bottom - there was a flat line and that is where my hearing stops.
Not a normal thing for a person my age.

I have a very high tolerance for sound.
I had a car stereo for a couple of years that would produce about 150 DB of sound and it never bothered me.
156 is about the same amount of noise as a jet engine during take off.

They put some temporary hearing aids on my ears for me to try and see how much of a improvement it would make.
It made things sound different - like turning up the treble on a stereo - but it also amplifies my voice when I talk.

The problem is - when I talk, I can't hear other people talk.
When they tested my hearing, I couldn't even breath - because the sound of my breathing was so loud - I couldn't hear the sounds in the earphones....

I think that you are right about hearing aids might not help, but they couldn't hurt to try.


Writing things down and understanding what people say are two diffrent things. I think the both of us might actualy have auditory processing disorder.


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Looneytunes
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23 Feb 2012, 7:14 pm

I'm to the point now - since my mom died that I don't want to talk to people anymore.

Yesterday and today was the first time that I have talked to anyone since Feb 2

When a convict does something really bad - they put them in solitary confinement.

So why is it that I have no one to talk to?
I get aggravated with the telephone because people calls and wants a whole bunch of answers all at once.
I get aggravated when I talk to people and they start to give me the third degree.
I get aggravated when I ask my dad what he is doing and he starts yelling and asks - what are you doing, Writing a book!
I get aggravated when my brothers and sisters don't call or drives right past my house - 5 houses down from my mom's house to go see each other 65 miles away - but won't stop at my house to see me.

I have perpetual ringing in both my ears - sounds like crickets.



AbleBaker
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23 Feb 2012, 7:56 pm

I'm deaf in one ear but I hadn't really considered in conjunction with the AS.

It's certainly a much more simple thing to explain to people if you miss something they say.



beckym
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23 Feb 2012, 8:08 pm

in conjunction with aspergers- i am already socially ret*d, add hearing loss to that and a lot of times I feel like a complete idiot.



ghostar
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24 Feb 2012, 8:30 am

beckym wrote:
in conjunction with aspergers- i am already socially ret*d, add hearing loss to that and a lot of times I feel like a complete idiot.


I feel exactly like this much of the time.



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24 Feb 2012, 8:31 am

I have something called "Tinnitus" IT FRIGGIN' SUCKS.


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24 Feb 2012, 11:13 am

I've got poor hearing, but not hearing loss. My hearing problems are based deep in the brain rather than a physical problem with the ear/inner ear itself. So although I am not hearing impaired/deaf, I can totally understand what it would be like to not be able to hear well. My sight loss in one of my eyes has given me an advantage though, no one asks a person with a cane to 'look them in the eye'! Plus when you do something really clumsy, no one bats an eyelid whereas before I got the cane, everyone just thought I was stupid!


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25 Feb 2012, 11:10 am

I am very far away form hearing loss.

I do however, come out as deaf in places like rock concerts, nightclubs, etc


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Gnomey
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25 Feb 2012, 1:24 pm

I believe my Father in Law has this combination and he is not deaf he can hear with a hearing aid. Father In Law has undiagnosed aspergers but the family blames his social and behavior problems on his deafness. However I have met other deaf people with much more hearing impairment and they have much better social skills then him. He is nothing like them, other deaf people use there other senses to make up for what they can't hear and understand. They really use there facial expressions to convey what they are trying to say while Father in Law has a blank expression most of the time. He also has a very narrow range of interests and has difficulty knowing things you would think everybody knew.

He did work as welder for many years in an union position.