Bad hearing

[vergil96]

Is it a frequent problem with autism? Do you also experience that? My hearing is so bad that I had a medical assessment done and the medical staff said it's because of an attention deficit, because there is nothing wrong with the hardware, but I can't pick up words when there is background noise. I was offered a training program but I refused, because behavioral therapy has harmful effects for me. I'm already being careful with so many things that I'm paranoid. It's exhausting.

 

[Rodafina]

I wonder if it’s a processing issue over an actual hearing issue. For my part, I hear far too much. Every tiny tick of the clock and breath of another person, and hum of some machine in the basement. I hear everything, but deciding what to focus on can be difficult. Because people speaking to me is already difficult to process, sometimes I am more focused on the distracting sounds around them, and so I miss what they’re saying, but it is not because I didn’t hear it at all.

 

[vergil96]

I wonder if it’s a processing issue over an actual hearing issue.

In my case, yes. This is what the medical exam results showed. My hearing is actually better than most people's. But I can't hear conversations when there is background noise. And all sorts of sounds annoy me and attract my attention. The conversations to me are blurred, it's like there is so much going on in a picture that you can't identify what is a part of what and what is where.

Spoiler: picture

^ Visual analogy of what it sounds like to me. One big mess.

 

[Gerontius]

Hi there, I had to get a test done too! I have fine hearing but it's sensory processing that causes the troubles; usually the "hardware" is all right.

 

[Sypher37]

I have severe sinus issues currently and waiting for an operation. My left ear is pretty bad and I’m rather deaf but I am super sensitive to sound. Any loud noises and I wanna run!

 

[Progster]

I have similar difficulties, and at one job that I was at, the boss one day took me aside and suggested that I should have a hearing test because she'd noticed that I appear not to hear things. I don't cope well in noisy environments and busy places - I don't process everything, can't hear over background noise and can't shut out background noise, may find it hard to switch focus, or conversely, may be distracted too easily.

 

[Ken]

Is it a frequent problem with autism? Do you also experience that? My hearing is so bad that I had a medical assessment done and the medical staff said it's because of an attention deficit, because there is nothing wrong with the hardware, but I can't pick up words when there is background noise. I was offered a training program but I refused, because behavioral therapy has harmful effects for me. I'm already being careful with so many things that I'm paranoid. It's exhausting.

Very interesting question. It's something I have pondered asking.

I was born with a hearing defect. After considerable testing, I was diagnosed with a totally deaf left ear. But, I always knew that was not true. Finally, I explained to the audiologist that my left ear cannot be deaf, because I can hear in stereo. Finally, I got an audiologist that says that the testing issue is that the equipment is only made for testing traditional hearing loss. It is not accurate in all cases especially with non-traditional issues.

In any event, it has been found that my issue is neurological. That is still physical, but physical in the brain, not my ears. My left ear works only when the signal received matches in both ears. If it is too far out of phase or too large a level difference then it doesn't "hear" anything. However, it works fine for stereo imaging. I can tell where a sound is coming from. When the audiologist keeps turning up the left ear volume, when it reaches a particularly high volume, I still can't hear it, but it gives me vertigo so sever that I loose my balance.

I too, cannot understand anyone if there is any extraneous sounds when they speak. Especially if it is another person speaking. Forget about conversation in a crowd of people with many talking at once. If more than one person is talking at the same time, even if it is just two and only one is close to me, it sounds like they are speaking a foreign language. Total gibberish.

Personally, I don't think any sort of training could help. I have been this way all my life and I'm in my 70's. I also doubt that therapy can "fix" physical neurological circuits in the brain.

I'm so used to it that I figure it's just a thing. Not a great detriment, just an inconvenience. But, I'm with you; I feel that therapy would be harmful. Just my opinion.

 

[Judge]

Bad hearing in general? I can't quite say that.

However I do have tinnitus (persistent ear ringing) in my right ear.

And listening to one person takes a certain degree of concentration. If one or two more voices enter the same conversation I quickly lose track of what it being said. (I suspect a number of us here have similar issues.)

 

[1ofakind]

Not sure if the hearing/processing part itself is an autism spectrum issue. But it is common for individuals on the autism spectrum to have ADHD. My mother brought me in for hearing tests as a child (Hearing was fine). As an adult, the hearing tests I had as a child were documented on my assessment as additional evidence toward the ADHD diagnosis I received.

 

[vergil96]

I have similar difficulties, and at one job that I was at, the boss one day took me aside and suggested that I should have a hearing test because she'd noticed that I appear not to hear things. I don't cope well in noisy environments and busy places - I don't process everything, can't hear over background noise and can't shut out background noise, may find it hard to switch focus, or conversely, may be distracted too easily.

I'm the same.

Personally, I don't think any sort of training could help. I have been this way all my life and I'm in my 70's. I also doubt that therapy can "fix" physical neurological circuits in the brain.

I'm so used to it that I figure it's just a thing. Not a great detriment, just an inconvenience. But, I'm with you; I feel that therapy would be harmful. Just my opinion.

I mean, I could probably train myself to concentrate on one sound, but it would be hard and I would be going against the grain and doing it would leave me feeling exhausted. I tested it with the general type of ADHD skills - I don't seem to really "learn" the methods to sequence tasks, timers make me nervous, discipline makes me more nervous and less effective, the things that has actually worked for me from the CBT guides is structuring my environment such that it's difficult to lose things, for example leaving them always in the same place. Another thing that works for me is to-do lists and splitting tasks into smaller parts. Keeping notes. I also came up with it myself that I listen to music as a "benign distraction". To sum up, the methods that work for me have to do more with structuring environment than developing skills and habits, being aware of how I operate and not trying to fight it, but work with it imporved a lot for me. Hence I think trying to force myself to do anything, especially if there is an attention thing at play, is going to produce more stress for me.

I don't really have a way to go around it tbh. I just got used to not hearing people... It's a shame in some situations, because I can't hear what's going on and I'm being left out. Sometimes people get angry at me for ignoring them when I never heard they were talking to me in the first place. I developed a habit of almost always wearing headphones, because I hate it when someone comes up to me and I need to explain that I had no idea this person was talking to me and they are possibly annoyed. With headphones on, they at least correctly assume that I can't hear them and make an effort so that I see they want to talk, touch me on the arm or something else.

 

[Patrick Bushdiecker]

Is it a frequent problem with autism? Do you also experience that? My hearing is so bad that I had a medical assessment done and the medical staff said it's because of an attention deficit, because there is nothing wrong with the hardware, but I can't pick up words when there is background noise. I was offered a training program but I refused, because behavioral therapy has harmful effects for me. I'm already being careful with so many things that I'm paranoid. It's exhausting.

That's crazy you said that. I don't know if it's related to autism, but I work in a restaurant where there are different sounds for cooking timers and loud ventilation fans. If I am cooking something I respond immediately if I hear my timer go off. I am super aware of all the THINGS I am working with, but I tune out the people. I am only aware of where they are so I don't run into them as I am moving a lot faster than they are. But frequently if someone says something to me, even though I am able to hear, I don't hear them. It's almost like I block people out unknowingly. They will have to get my attention and say did you hear what I just said, but no I did not and I have them repeat it.

 

[Outdated]

In my case, yes. This is what the medical exam results showed. My hearing is actually better than most people's. But I can't hear conversations when there is background noise. And all sorts of sounds annoy me and attract my attention. The conversations to me are blurred, it's like there is so much going on in a picture that you can't identify what is a part of what and what is where.

This is a common problem for many autistic people including myself. I have better hearing than most dogs but I struggle to hear people's voices if there's any other background sounds. In a crowded room for example most people can tune out everyone else's voices and listen to only one of them, I can't do that. I just hear a cacophony of sound. Other noises will also intrude over the tops of voices and prevent me from hearing properly.

In group conversations I will often lag behind in the conversation, by the time I've thought of a comment to add the conversation has moved on and I've missed the opportunity. Talking to two people simultaneously I can do, three is stretching my abilities a bit. It takes us longer to convert sounds in to thoughts than it does with other forms of input. (abstraction) It takes us longer to do this than it does most people, the more people you have in a group discussion the more obvious this becomes.

I also struggle to hear properly over the phone, no matter how hard I try I seem to only be able to hear about 2 out of 3 words. This isn't so bad when talking to people that I know well, my brain sort of fills in many of the gaps for me, but when I'm trying to talk to strangers such as bureaucrats I really struggle. It gets embarrassing having to ask people to repeat themselves all the time. I think this has something to do with the slower processing of sounds in to thoughts.

I'm glad you avoided trying therapy for this as no amount of therapy will make any difference. It's a physical difference in the way your brain processes sounds and no matter how hard you concentrate it is never going to get much better. If you're anything like me you are already using maximum concentration just to be part of a group conversation.

 

[Progster]

In group conversations I will often lag behind in the conversation, by the time I've thought of a comment to add the conversation has moved on and I've missed the opportunity. Talking to two people simultaneously I can do, three is stretching my abilities a bit.

Same here. Group socialising is really no good for me. If there are three, what usually happens is that the other two will talk amongst themselves and I get left out of the conversation.

 

[Jeff T]

Born with malformed inner ear bones, one ear much worse. Missing a section of meninges (brain stuck to skull apparently) in that area too. In the worst ear, I don't really hear words- the better ear deciphers the sounds into words.
Thank goodness for the balance control on stereos!
As others mentioned, noises while people are talking to me cancels both into a noise-blob. I think it's an executive function issue? Poor brain zooms back and forth trying to grok everything? Oftentimes an ADD symptom?

 

[Mr. Stevens]

I wonder if it’s a processing issue over an actual hearing issue. For my part, I hear far too much. Every tiny tick of the clock and breath of another person, and hum of some machine in the basement. I hear everything, but deciding what to focus on can be difficult. Because people speaking to me is already difficult to process, sometimes I am more focused on the distracting sounds around them, and so I miss what they’re saying, but it is not because I didn’t hear it at all.

Once I leaned down to plug in my cell phone and could hear the hiss of electricity connecting.

 

[vergil96]

Once I leaned down to plug in my cell phone and could hear the hiss of electricity connecting.

I also hear quiet sounds that other people don't seem to hear at all. They're so loud.

 

[Patrick Bushdiecker]

Anybody else take one of those hearing tests where you push the button when you hear the beep and they play a very quiet beep, and your not sure whether you heard it for real or not? Like maybe it was your brain repeating the sound in your head? That seems like what happened with mine.

 

[Outdated]

Anybody else take one of those hearing tests where you push the button when you hear the beep and they play a very quiet beep, and your not sure whether you heard it for real or not? Like maybe it was your brain repeating the sound in your head? That seems like what happened with mine.

When I was 16 I applied for the military and that's one of the tests they put me through, sitting by myself in a soundproof glass tank. No button to push though, I had to raise my hand instead. Sometimes I thought I heard a sound but wasn't sure and didn't raise my hand, when I did hear sounds they were definite. They told me that I passed the test with 100% accuracy.

 

[vergil96]

Do you also not really take your earplugs out if not at home?