You might struggle with auditory processing if…
- Your catchphrase is “what?”
- You ask someone to repeat their question then finish processing and respond halfway through they’re finished repeating it.
- You somewhat processed what someone said but your brain won’t take it.
- You mishear what people say wildly wrong. Like, wildly wrong. Then you process it and it makes wayyyy more sense than whatever you thought someone originally said.
- “Wait, what?”
- Default face is a perplexed, confused look.
- You have to deal with rude people who refuse to repeat themselves and act exasperated at the suggestion, than proceed to get angry when you won’t respond to them and/or remember what they just said.
- You can hear a car door open down the street but you can’t hear someone talking to you in the same room.
- Talking is weird.
- You’re constantly seen as a bad listener (which, maybe isn’t that far from the truth- but they assume you’re not trying), unfocused (which I tend to be, but it’s unrelated), and so on. Nobody stops to consider that maybe you have processing issues.
- You were tested for hearing issues as a kid because you didn’t respond to people or talk much, but every test came back negative and your parents were told you have perfect hearing.
- The idea of talking to two people at once is terrifying beyond imagining.
- Responding to something someone said ages ago, even with a different conversation still going, the topic has moved on, and everyone forgot about it.
- “Huh?!”
bonus round: we can watch TV or talk. not both.
And no one without auditory processing issues understands any of this.
- you watch tv with the subtitles on even though your hearing is fine
- listening to podcasts makes your brain tired like you’ve been doing big scary math
- in a chattering crowd, all you hear is white noise
People talking over each other is a source of constant anxiety.
Lip reading helps, to the point that talking on the phone without that input is really annoying.
OH MY GOD I thought I was the only hearing person who can’t focus on a show / movie unless there are subtitles.
