Somewhat Silent

Selective hearing??!!

by lette @ 4:21 pm. Filed under Sounds, Experiences

Is there such thing, because what keeps hapening me is freaky! Im supposed to be severly deaf, and yet there has been more than one occasion where I cant here people who are talking right up close to my ear loudly, and then ill go and hear something that is way off in the distance and is really low! and it really does wierd me out!

One time (in band camp) sorry!! I was in the car driving with Keith and more often than not I find it difficult to easily hear him, I really have to concentrate because im not looking at him when he talks, but I hear him well enough to have a conversation.

some guy about 4 cars behind or infront of me I couldnt tell, Honked his horn and I heard it! And it was so wierd! and even Keith asked, how the hell did you hear that?!!

Again in Barcelona we were in one place where one of the Tutors said something behind me and I turned around and she asked, ‘you heard that?’ and I had! and then the two of us were in a museum and I couldnt hear her at all! What the hell is happening?!! has this ever happened to you? I can hear something at one time and then I cant another time, and people are gonna think im lying or something! and this is without hearing aids!! crazy!

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5 Responses to “Selective hearing??!!”

Sara :
March 24th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
My ears do the same things. Sometimes I’ll understand something that has just been said on the radio, or I’ll understand L. without seeing him talk, or I’ll hear some weird random sound and will know what it is/where it’s coming from faster than L. will. It’s entirely random and unpredictable, almost as if my nerves are firing sporadically and allowing sounds through that I can’t normally hear.
barakta (User Verified) :
March 24th, 2006 at 6:56 pm
I get that too. Sometimes I can hear the kettle click off from upstairs, other times I can’t hear it clicking off right next to me. I think some of it can be explained by frequency reponse, the easily-heard sound just happens to be in a range of good frequecies for you; additionally I think there is concentration in the brain, sometimes you might just be more aware of the noises going on around you than usual.

I find the more familliar I am with the noise the more likely I am to be able to recognise it, or parse the knwon-person’s speech without looking at them or whatever. I find my ability to parse speech ranges from the ‘don’t have to lipread cos it just parses seemingly like magic’ to the ‘can’t make head nor tail of what is being said even with someone I know well and can see perfectly’.

I don’t think my ability to understand auditory info is entirely dependent upon things such as tiredness, or familiarity. I’m just not sure what it is. People who know me well accept that I have good and bad times and don’t always have control over them.

Sometimes I find it easier to hear noises when not looking at something, especially faces. It is cognitively tiring to proces faces - we’re designed to process them but they distract from other cognitive processes. If I shut my eyes on someone who has a poor lipreading pattern, then I can concentrate on the sounds alone.
lette :
March 25th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
could it be the recognative proses kicking in??!! maybe it is quiet strange!
barakta (User Verified) :
March 25th, 2006 at 5:59 pm
Whatever it is, it’s almost certainly cognitive. You will find you adjust to some extent to your current level of hearing loss. Do you have your new hearing aids yet?
lette :
March 25th, 2006 at 8:55 pm
nope!! im still waiting, he rang me last week, (which I find very annoying) could he not just send an appointment letter?!! I was supposed to get another appointment on friday as they cancelled the first one, and Iv been waiting nearly 10 weeks since but nope nothing! He said he wants to do one more test, which he always sais cautoiusly so im a bit freaked out as to what it is!! but please god ill get an appointment for next week!! because at this stage, I really do need something!