<p>A lot of the time when I’m talking to someone I miss part of what they said, and it can be awkward to repeatedly ask for someone to repeat something. I’m curious what others do when they have this problem. How would you feel about someone that doesn’t seem to understand what you’re saying?</p>
<p>I’m in your shoes a lot too. I miss things <em>all</em> the time, and I’m not really sure why. The first time I miss what someone says, I’ll usually respond with “what?”, then if it happens again I try to say something along the lines of, “Sorry, could you repeat that?” and from then on out I try to catch at least part of the word or phrase and repeat it back, and they will usually fill in the rest that I missed. But I seem to make a lot of people frustrated. Especially at “far” distances. I can’t lip read to save my life and then I miss what people say so often.</p>
<p>I may be a shy person and not like to feel awkward but I will ask people to repeat something I miss whenever I do because I would rather do that then miss something and look like a fool.</p>
<p>Didn’t hear or didn’t listen?</p>
<p>Just ask if they can repeat it…? It’s not a big deal, it happens to a lot of people, especially if they’re talking to someone quiet.</p>
<p>I am mostly deaf in my left ear and partially deaf in my right so I ask people to repeat themselves all the time. I just say “I’m sorry, could you say that again?” </p>
<p>Most people that know me though know I’m hard of hearing so they’re just used to it. If you’re having this issue with a lot of people, you might want to get your hearing checked out.</p>
<p>insertcliche and musicallylatin,
these problems you both are experiencing are red flags [ strong indicators] for Auditory Processing Disorder[ this means the part of your brain that deals with sound is missing the auditory signals it receives from your ears or is mixing those signals up]. It usually does not mean you have an ear based physical hearing problem . You should go to a specialized audiologist who deals with LD’s [ not your standard Costco test center] and be tested.</p>
<p>Just nod and smile, occasionally throw in a little laugh. Or just not care about them getting annoyed at you and just tell them that you’re hard of hearing and that if they want you to listen to them, they should speak up.</p>
<p>Yes, it could be APD, or it could be a hearing loss - do you have trouble with other types of sounds? Do you need the tv louder than others? Do you blast your headphones?
As a mom with ADHD and a mild hearing loss , I have always sat in the second row of any class or presentation. That way, I am less distracted and more likely to hear what they say in spite of lawnmowers, doors, and other noises. As a bonus, when you sit in the second row the professor often look to you as a barometer of when things are clear/unclear. I can’t tell you how many professors have told me that they look at me as a measure of when they need to ask for questions and when they need to move on. </p>
<p>In terms of clarifying, I usually tell my students (I am a speech pathologist) that it is much less annoying if you can spit back what you did hear than just saying “Huh” or “what?” If you just say “huh” you are asking the person to repeat the same thing, and they usually do, but often FASTER and sometimes they don’t look at you. If you say something like “You want me to read chapter 1 and do questions …which ones??” they only have to repeat a bit of what they said. It is easier for them and for you, and much less likely to create frustration. </p>
<p>That said, don’t worry about it - happens to all of us!</p>
<p>Don’t worry about it. I have people asking me to repeat things a lot. I’m naturally soft spoken so I don’t even realize when I’m speaking quietly. So… romanigypsyeyes will probably just see my lips move. lol</p>
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<p>Luckily, I can read lips ;).</p>
<p>Shoot4moon, your post kind of made me chuckle to myself a little bit, as the relations between me and what you said, were slightly humorous to me.</p>
<p>First, I was diagnosed with ADHD this past fall, and have done a lot of research on it (just to double check I wasn’t one of the “over-diagnosed masses”), and can COMPLETELY relate to needing to sit up in the front row. My mother has just about killed me several times throughout my years from spacing out while she’s talking and telling me what needs to be done, or just having to repeat herself because I didn’t hear. 
I am in karate, and I hate when cars drive by our big front windows because my attention automatically goes straight to the sound, as with the little kids who play in the back room, or someone new/different coming into the dojo. </p>
<p>Movies are the worse for me though… I have uncorrectable vision loss, so subtitles don’t quite help, and I tend to miss a lot of the movie, sound wise as well. Plus, my attention span for movies in anything but a dark theater with no distractions is so minimal, I can’t tell you what happened in any movies I’ve watched with friends recently. I still have no idea what Star Wars is really about. </p>
<p>But the speech pathologist made me chuckle to myself as well because in sixth grade, my teacher fought with the school over giving me the free speech therapy that is often provided to students. They didn’t acquiesce at first because I had good grades, great test scores, came from a school that had me in the GATE and accelerated math and reading programs, along with being on the school quiz bowl team(s), student council, band, choir, etc (I was a busy elementary school student. If only I had kept that up. ). But luckily for me later in life, she won the argument, and my issues with R’s now only arises when I’m tired, and suddenly my friend Jarred becomes Jaawwed again. </p>
<p>But this thread does not help the hypochondriac in me! I have been having ear popping/crackling off and on lately, and this does not ease my mild concern. 
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<p>But I’ll stop hijacking this thread now…</p>
<p>I do the same thing! My favorite way to ask is, “Sorry, I didn’t catch that?” It sounds a bit more sophisticated than, “What?” and a bit less direct than, “Could you repeat that?”</p>
<p>I have this problem sometimes… Most of the time though it’s because the person doesn’t have any damn idea how to annunciate</p>
<p>@romanigypsyeyes: I’ll just speak in Korean just to throw you off. lol :P</p>
<p>^ Well damn. :p</p>
<p>@dan- This could also be a sign of some hearing loss. When I first started losing my hearing again, I thought people were just mumbling more. Turns out, it was just my ears getting worse lol.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. The suggestion of APD is interesting. Looking at the other symptoms though, it doesn’t quite seem to fit. I don’t have problems listening to lectures from the back, and I don’t need the TV turned up extra loud to listen.</p>
<p>It’s usually only really a problem in conversations, particularly (it would seem) conversations where I’m already more nervous than usual. I figured it was mostly an issue of social anxiety - being distracted by how I’m acting physically, what I’m going to say, how the other person seems to be reacting non-verbally. Struggling with how to respond to the situation makes it worse I think too. I tend to be something of a hypochondriac like musicallylatin, but in this case APD seems unlikely. I’ll think about looking into it more though. How can I find an audiologist that will test for it? Is this something that’s unlikely to be at a college health center?</p>
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<p>Haha, I usually end up saying “what” or “what did you say?” a lot, and I often feel like it makes me sound stupid.</p>
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<p>Thanks, I’ll definitely try this more.</p>
<p>^ Oh nice advice!</p>
<p>I have trouble hearing when there’s a background noise… I just can’t separate the background noises with the conversation. It usually happens with droning noises like “bbbhhhhhhhhh.” I’m serious. My mom has less than average hearing and I have the same problem. I can easily mask my problem while my mom can’t.</p>
<p>i have trouble when people try to whisper things to me in class while the professor is lecturing.</p>
<p>I can assure you I don’t have hearing loss lol</p>