Hearing Problems- What?

Sharp10r

So for a while now, restaurants, gyms, and large halls have made it difficult to hear. Today I went to CostCo to get my hearing tested, and was surprised to score 99% in one ear and 100% in the other (if only I could get my friends to talk to me in beeps, it would be ok). So- what else could be going on? Is it possible that my mind is not properly filtering out background noise? Can I eartrain to do it?
I'm very happy and thankful that the analyst didn't think there was a physical problem, but now- if that is true- what is wrong with me?

Fantasma

Sinus problems?, Rhinitis?, these conditions can cause several ear problems.

SniperGuy

Clean the wax out of your ear too. I find sometimes mine builds up so much that I can hear better after cleaning. I do have actual hearing issues though so ymmv.

Cabezone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_processing_disorder

I ain't about to diagnose you just tossing out one possible explanation.

Pure Din

Have you ever been diagnosed with ADHD? I have trouble filtering out noises in crowded environments, but it's less bad if I take my adderall.

EggyToast

Cabezone wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_processing_disorder

I ain't about to diagnose you just tossing out one possible explanation.

This is interesting, because the % shows that this changes as you get older.

I know that I tend to have trouble hearing in noisy situations, and it's not because of a hearing problem -- it's just because I'm hearing too much. This actually got worse for me as I started playing a musical instrument, because I was focusing on listening to details in music and my own practicing and it has "carried over" to social or noisy situations. It's not so much about paying attention, and the article makes it clear that it's not an attention-based disorder, but I will say to the OP that you're not alone.

garroad_ran

EggyToast wrote: »

Cabezone wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_processing_disorder

I ain't about to diagnose you just tossing out one possible explanation.

This is interesting, because the % shows that this changes as you get older.

I know that I tend to have trouble hearing in noisy situations, and it's not because of a hearing problem -- it's just because I'm hearing too much. This actually got worse for me as I started playing a musical instrument, because I was focusing on listening to details in music and my own practicing and it has "carried over" to social or noisy situations. It's not so much about paying attention, and the article makes it clear that it's not an attention-based disorder, but I will say to the OP that you're not alone.

Seconding this. I have an extremely difficult time following conversations in a noisy environment, particularly if there is music playing at all. It feels like there's three or four different people talking in my ear (each one in a different language) and I can't make out more than bits and pieces of each.

Cabezone

I actually do the lip reading thing mentioned in that article.

Sharp10r

Maybe it's music... I was a musician and music chord analysis kind of goes on in the background while listening to music... I'm going to have to be more attentive to where my mind is in restaurants and halls. As for ADHD, I've never been diagnosed, but I doubt I have that as the past five years I've had to read 1000s of pages a semester, and while it's not easy, I'd get it done. *shrugs*
So it looks like step 1 will be paying attention to where my attention is going (circular but we'll work with it) and then once I have health insurance, probably go to ...audiologist and neurologist?
Edit: I do lip reading as best I can (in the South people's lips don't move the same as up North). But the only other symptom I really share is "have difficulty with reading, comprehension, spelling, and vocabulary" and really, it's only vocabulary. I can comprehend fine, but my words get crossed in my mind all the time.