10 ms·

If the size could shrink to the size of a small earplug, I'd love to use this as a person who is not hearing-impaired (at least they couldn't diagnose me with i

If the size could shrink to the size of a small earplug, I'd love to use this as a person who is not hearing-impaired (at least they couldn't diagnose me with it, so now I'm not sure if their diagnostics sucks, or I'm just a normal person and others pretend better that they hear everything well). In groups and with friends, it's inevitable that you end up in a busy restaurant or a bar, and it always frustrates me that I don't hear something, I ask the person to repeat only to not hear it again, usually because they repeat it at the same low level (considering the circumstances). Missing jokes and throwaway comments is even worse ("hey what are you all laughing about, I didn't hear it, could you repeat it for me like three times until I hear it").

nolongerthere 2y ago
> I'm not sure if their diagnostics sucks, or I'm just a normal person and others pretend better that they hear everything well This is one of those frustrating gaslighting things that is half true in that half the time I also pretend to hear what someone else is saying even though I couldn’t just because it’s not really important and making a big deal about it (ie asking them to repeat it at continuously louder decibels) can get awkward.
- abcdefg_ 2y ago
  So I'm not alone. I'm in my mid-forties and have experienced a significant decline over the last few years. Now I can rarely distinguish one voice in moderate background noise (conversations, music) without leaning towards them, cupping my ears. Sometimes I just have to give up and try to nod or smile at the right time as the conversation goes on around me. I recently had a test at an ENT doctor who told me my hearing is fine and insinuated I was wasting his time. The test was listening to high-pitched beeps over white noise, which isn't representative of the problem. Distinguishing one particular tone over several similar ones would be more like it.
  - glenngillen 2y ago
    Hey, there's dozens of us! :P I wrote about my experience with this last year: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35897515 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35897515 I did exactly the type of diagnosis you're talking about. It was quite good at how it simulated a noisy environment with a bunch of background chatter and then a single voice you were meant to listen to that would repeat various patterns of words with various combinations of lower speaking volume and/or higher background noise. One thing I wish I'd made a point of at the time was the fact that, despite being an apparently soundproof booth with headphones on, I could definitely hear people talking in the waiting room and another audiologist in an adjacent room. Though I'm not sure it would have materially changed their lack of diagnosis (they'd already detected I could hear into negative decibels). I still don't have a diagnosis, but I'm increasingly coming around to the idea that maybe it's not that my hearing is bad but that I actually hear too much. What I'd previously thought was my unability to hear people speaking on the radio in the car when everyone else clearly could wasn't because I couldn't hear the radio, it's that I can't hear it over the top of all the tyre and wind noise I'm also hearing and trying to process out. I don't think the other passengers in the car hear the rest of the noise, they only hear the radio. I bought various types of Loop earplugs and have found them fantastic for live music events. I can now hear my friends when they're talking to me! Unfortunately they greatly amplify my perception of the volume of my own voice when I talk which has the undesirable side-effect of making me talk even quieter so I feel like I'm having to yell when I want to talk to people. I've also not found them as useful as I'd hoped in restaurant-type settings.
  - boringg 2y ago
    Same thing. Did a test and the audiologists comment was that I would be the best hearing tested all day or all month and come back in twenty years.
ricardobeat 2y ago
I’m in the same boat. My hearing has a dip around the 2-4khz range which makes speech unintelligible in many situations. Otherwise it seems normal and I still hear details in music that others can’t. Using Sony headphones in voice mode helps but I don’t carry them all day…
totetsu 2y ago
There are these passive directional earplugs https://www.flareaudio.com/pages/earhd https://www.flareaudio.com/pages/earhd
- j1elo 2y ago
  The prospect of an earplug that eases focusing audio got me interested... but no thanks, I won't go out to socialize with basically two mini trumpets coming out of my ears. It looks funny, reminiscing of classic b&w pictures with deaf people carrying ear trumpets everywhere with them during 18th century.
  - SamBam 2y ago
    I was agreeing with you, but then I watched the video of Stephen Fry and I felt that they just looked like beats earbuds, which people have normalized wearing.
  - cs02rm0 2y ago
    Yeah, I like the concept, not a fan of the implementation.
- instagib 2y ago
  I responded to another comment but after reading this thread noticed my hearing aids have a custom directional hearing section I can modify.
superultra 2y ago
I could not hear anyone in any crowded situation. At middle age I thought my hearing was leaving. Yet every audiologist I went to said my hearing was fine. So I found the best audiologist in my fairly large metro area, and scheduled a year in advance (the wait list was that long). After a whole day of tests the audiologist comes in and says I have good news and bad news and good bad news. The good news is that my hearing was beyond great, it was at the level of a 5 year old. The bad news: I could hear so well I was unable to differentiate sound; my hearing hadn’t gotten worse, my brain’s ability to separate sound had. The good bad news is that my hearing would inevitably deteriorate, as all ours does, and for several years I’d be able hear in public places! I think part of what has made this worse is that restaurant and public space designers have stopped thinking about sound. Most bars opened in the last 15 years have cement floors, very little sound insulation, and they’re based on the idea that you’re not having a good time unless your ears are ringing. I’ve stopped patronizing these places if only because I literally cannot maintain conversations.
- ceejayoz 2y ago
  I've got a similar thing; I can't pull most song lyrics out of the song, and any significant amount of background noise means lip reading for me. Hearing's all fine, it's the processing that doesn't work quite right. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_processing_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_processing_disorder
  - pavel_lishin 2y ago
    Ditto here. An audiologist recommended something called LACE therapy, but it wasn't cheap so at the time I didn't go for it - I need to look into it, and see if it's a legitimate treatment for this, or snake-oil.
    - 1123581321 2y ago
      I would not say it's snake oil, but it will only help if you've learned some helplessness or are bad at thinking about what someone is saying while they are speaking. A hearing aid or filter is always going to be more helpful if you only can pick one treatment.
vidarh 2y ago
Yeah, same. My hearing is absolutely not great, but "good enough", but in noisy environments I struggle. Given I'm fairly introvert to start with, on one hand, I'm perfectly at ease just checking out and sitting with my own thoughts if I can't hear a conversation, but when I do decide to come out with someone I'd prefer it to be easier to be more social instead of resorting to checking out.
wruza 2y ago
This isn't your issue though. A group chooses to talk in an environment where they can barely hear each other. Rather than using a device for it, I'd recommend to perceive the problem as it is and solve it in a conventional way. E.g. by saying "I couldn't hear shit, and you too probably. That's stupid, let's go <goodplacename> instead" unless it's hard to do. Generally these places are designed for you to suffer unless you're screaming all the time and are indifferent to surroundings. I don't get why people go there and leave money, cause I wouldn't go there even for that money. You don't want an AI device that replaces respect for each others limits.
- ghaff 2y ago
  It's sort of inevitable in crowded situations. My main objection is when there's also loud music when that really isn't the purpose of the gathering.
- pavel_lishin 2y ago
  It's certainly their issue if they want to continue spending time with the group doing what most of the group prefers. > I don't get why people go there and leave money, cause I wouldn't go there even for that money. That's a problem with lack of empathy and understanding on your part, not with the group dynanimcs of that person's friends.
  - wruza 2y ago
    Group dynamics are hard, see Abilene paradox. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abilene_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abilene_paradox
    - boringg 2y ago
      Always suspected this - didn't know there was an actual term for it. Thanks!
- drewg123 2y ago
  You don't always have a choice. Sometimes there are loud places where you just have to be (airports, train stations, etc). My most frustrating time is transiting airports with my wife, who is a very quiet talker.
dghughes 2y ago
People with some hearing loss can't hear consonants but vowels can be heard. I think that's why some people may assume they don't have a hearing problem. My Mother has had poor hearing for decades. She listened to a radio as a kid she held it next to her ear at a loud volume. Now she often says she "can't stand noise" but it's because she can't hear in loud environments anymore due to hear hearing problems. I've noticed she misses the start of a sentences like if I said "I'm going to get some milk" she heard "got some milk" (as in I just got it). Or she interrupts people because she can't hear the first part of someone starting to speak most people tend to speak low at the start of a sentence.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
ddmf 2y ago
I have issues with auditory processing disorder which means my hearing is actually really good, but someone talking to me seems to get a much lower decode priority than some random noise around me - if I can see the lips, even though I can't lipread, it helps me decode the speech with a much greater accuracy. Every time I looked into this, it seemed to push the link with autism and/or adhd - back in 2008 I wasn't diagnosed so I poo-pooed the idea somewhat. Now I'm diagnosed as AuDHD.
- jives 2y ago
  I'm recently diagnosed and I experience the same. Listening to someone in a crowded room takes a ton of effort because my brain wants to track all of the other conversations and noises.
dnpls 2y ago
The article mentions "The team is working to expand the system to earbuds and hearing aids in the future."
carlosjobim 2y ago
> In groups and with friends, it's inevitable that you end up in a busy restaurant or a bar, and it always frustrates me that I don't hear something, I ask the person to repeat only to not hear it again That's so you can lean in and get a little bit more friendly. Or go out for some fresh air together.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
foobarian 2y ago
I happened to go out with a group of workers from a deaf school. It was a particularly loud and annoying bar and it didn't bother them one bit. :-)
Pxtl 2y ago
My favorite case of this awkwardness: Other person: *mumble mumble* SOMETHING CLEARLY SPOKEN Me: I'm sorry, what? Them: "clearly spoken?" Me: No, the first part. Them: "something?" Me, giving up: *smiles and nods* Yeah! (quietly hopes I didn't just agree that putting hamsters in blenders or something is a cool idea)
Pxtl 2y ago
I've taken to wearing bone-conductors waaaaay to much, and I'm impressed with their flexibility for stuff like this. They keep my ears open, but when I need to hear the headset more clearly (like if I'm in a crowded area and taking a call) I can plug my ear with my finger and that both improves the audio quality of the bone conductor (it creates a speaker cabinet in your ear for a much fuller sound) and blocks out the outside noise. If you need full headphone-quality you put in ear-plugs. And they're pretty small and discrete. They're not perfect, but the fact that I can move smoothly from "I need my ears open but still want to hear my headset" to "I need to block out sound and hear my headset perfectly clearly" with just a finger or a pair of earplugs is great. Stick a shotgun mic (that's the term for a mic with tight directional cone, right? Not an audio guy) on the side and this would be really cool.
- solarengineer 2y ago
  Shokz has these bone conductor headsets with mics.
  - tmtvl 2y ago
    I had Shokz bone-conducting headphones (openmove or something like that?), but unfortunately the battery died after a single charge. It was a shame 'cause I was really fond of them. If/when my headphones give the ghost I'll give them another shot.
nashashmi 2y ago
Tip for anyone trying to communicate in noisy room: 1. Don't speak fast. Speak slow. Enunciate and articulate all the consonants. And do it very slowly. Give the vowels lots of room to be noticed. 2. Don't speak lightly. 3. Don't mumble. Aayyeee hHHaaaVVE TTOOO GOOO NNAAAoooUUU
ljf 2y ago
As an older adult I've realised I most likely have ADHD - I've always struggled to focus in busy places, unless the person has my attention - as soon as we are in a group or people all talking or pitching in, and I can't focus on one face, I'm lost. My hearing is fine (I assume) - but I've come to realise I can't process information when there is too much going on. My family will often have the TV on, games playing on phones, and talking too - I just can't hack it. Equally the option to work from home has revolutionised my productivity - without having 10 things to filter out, I can just focus on getting the task in hand done. In an office I often get lost and distracted, and have to power through the noise.
- onemoresoop 2y ago
  Office is indeed distracting. I power through the most noisy times with white noise. I learned to enjoy it and it actually calms me a bit.
aquafox 2y ago
It seems you are describing the Cocktail party effect: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_party_effect https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_party_effect
rayxi271828 2y ago
> it always frustrates me that I don't hear something, I ask the person to repeat only to not hear it again, usually because they repeat it at the same low level I thought I was the only one with this problem! Someone would make a joke and I would have to pretend to laugh because I didn't even catch what he/she was saying and asking them to repeat it the 3rd time would be awkward. Even worse, it isn't always a joke, so even calibrating the laughter level is hard. Ugh.
Spooky23 2y ago
Look into Auditory Processing Disorder. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/auditory-processing-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20555261 https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/auditory-proc... A good hearing aid person or an audiologist can diagnose it. I found out that I likely have it, which explained alot of things in my life that I had experienced. In some scenarios, hearing aids can help, even though you don’t have a hearing problem per se.
dasKrokodil 2y ago
I think that the problem of not hearing well in places like busy restaurants and bars is also often exacerbated by bad room acoustics. Acoustics are sadly an often overlooked factor when designing interior spaces (except for concert halls and such obviously).
cbhl 2y ago
I've found that wearing $10 off-the-shelf "musicians" or "high fidelity" earplugs in such spaces helps my ability to hear/understand a lot. Yes, the stem sticks out, and everyone asks about them at least once, but I usually say something about wanting to "prevent tinnitus" and that it helps me hear them even better and they usually don't ask about it again.

nolongerthere 2y ago

> I'm not sure if their diagnostics sucks, or I'm just a normal person and others pretend better that they hear everything well This is one of those frustrating gaslighting things that is half true in that half the time I also pretend to hear what someone else is saying even though I couldn’t just because it’s not really important and making a big deal about it (ie asking them to repeat it at continuously louder decibels) can get awkward.

abcdefg_ 2y ago
So I'm not alone. I'm in my mid-forties and have experienced a significant decline over the last few years. Now I can rarely distinguish one voice in moderate background noise (conversations, music) without leaning towards them, cupping my ears. Sometimes I just have to give up and try to nod or smile at the right time as the conversation goes on around me. I recently had a test at an ENT doctor who told me my hearing is fine and insinuated I was wasting his time. The test was listening to high-pitched beeps over white noise, which isn't representative of the problem. Distinguishing one particular tone over several similar ones would be more like it.
- glenngillen 2y ago
  Hey, there's dozens of us! :P I wrote about my experience with this last year: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35897515 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35897515 I did exactly the type of diagnosis you're talking about. It was quite good at how it simulated a noisy environment with a bunch of background chatter and then a single voice you were meant to listen to that would repeat various patterns of words with various combinations of lower speaking volume and/or higher background noise. One thing I wish I'd made a point of at the time was the fact that, despite being an apparently soundproof booth with headphones on, I could definitely hear people talking in the waiting room and another audiologist in an adjacent room. Though I'm not sure it would have materially changed their lack of diagnosis (they'd already detected I could hear into negative decibels). I still don't have a diagnosis, but I'm increasingly coming around to the idea that maybe it's not that my hearing is bad but that I actually hear too much. What I'd previously thought was my unability to hear people speaking on the radio in the car when everyone else clearly could wasn't because I couldn't hear the radio, it's that I can't hear it over the top of all the tyre and wind noise I'm also hearing and trying to process out. I don't think the other passengers in the car hear the rest of the noise, they only hear the radio. I bought various types of Loop earplugs and have found them fantastic for live music events. I can now hear my friends when they're talking to me! Unfortunately they greatly amplify my perception of the volume of my own voice when I talk which has the undesirable side-effect of making me talk even quieter so I feel like I'm having to yell when I want to talk to people. I've also not found them as useful as I'd hoped in restaurant-type settings.
- boringg 2y ago
  Same thing. Did a test and the audiologists comment was that I would be the best hearing tested all day or all month and come back in twenty years.

ricardobeat 2y ago

I’m in the same boat. My hearing has a dip around the 2-4khz range which makes speech unintelligible in many situations. Otherwise it seems normal and I still hear details in music that others can’t. Using Sony headphones in voice mode helps but I don’t carry them all day…

totetsu 2y ago

There are these passive directional earplugs https://www.flareaudio.com/pages/earhd https://www.flareaudio.com/pages/earhd

j1elo 2y ago
The prospect of an earplug that eases focusing audio got me interested... but no thanks, I won't go out to socialize with basically two mini trumpets coming out of my ears. It looks funny, reminiscing of classic b&w pictures with deaf people carrying ear trumpets everywhere with them during 18th century.
- SamBam 2y ago
  I was agreeing with you, but then I watched the video of Stephen Fry and I felt that they just looked like beats earbuds, which people have normalized wearing.
- cs02rm0 2y ago
  Yeah, I like the concept, not a fan of the implementation.
instagib 2y ago
I responded to another comment but after reading this thread noticed my hearing aids have a custom directional hearing section I can modify.

superultra 2y ago

I could not hear anyone in any crowded situation. At middle age I thought my hearing was leaving. Yet every audiologist I went to said my hearing was fine. So I found the best audiologist in my fairly large metro area, and scheduled a year in advance (the wait list was that long). After a whole day of tests the audiologist comes in and says I have good news and bad news and good bad news. The good news is that my hearing was beyond great, it was at the level of a 5 year old. The bad news: I could hear so well I was unable to differentiate sound; my hearing hadn’t gotten worse, my brain’s ability to separate sound had. The good bad news is that my hearing would inevitably deteriorate, as all ours does, and for several years I’d be able hear in public places! I think part of what has made this worse is that restaurant and public space designers have stopped thinking about sound. Most bars opened in the last 15 years have cement floors, very little sound insulation, and they’re based on the idea that you’re not having a good time unless your ears are ringing. I’ve stopped patronizing these places if only because I literally cannot maintain conversations.

ceejayoz 2y ago
I've got a similar thing; I can't pull most song lyrics out of the song, and any significant amount of background noise means lip reading for me. Hearing's all fine, it's the processing that doesn't work quite right. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_processing_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_processing_disorder
- pavel_lishin 2y ago
  Ditto here. An audiologist recommended something called LACE therapy, but it wasn't cheap so at the time I didn't go for it - I need to look into it, and see if it's a legitimate treatment for this, or snake-oil.
  - 1123581321 2y ago
    I would not say it's snake oil, but it will only help if you've learned some helplessness or are bad at thinking about what someone is saying while they are speaking. A hearing aid or filter is always going to be more helpful if you only can pick one treatment.

vidarh 2y ago

Yeah, same. My hearing is absolutely not great, but "good enough", but in noisy environments I struggle. Given I'm fairly introvert to start with, on one hand, I'm perfectly at ease just checking out and sitting with my own thoughts if I can't hear a conversation, but when I do decide to come out with someone I'd prefer it to be easier to be more social instead of resorting to checking out.

wruza 2y ago

This isn't your issue though. A group chooses to talk in an environment where they can barely hear each other. Rather than using a device for it, I'd recommend to perceive the problem as it is and solve it in a conventional way. E.g. by saying "I couldn't hear shit, and you too probably. That's stupid, let's go <goodplacename> instead" unless it's hard to do. Generally these places are designed for you to suffer unless you're screaming all the time and are indifferent to surroundings. I don't get why people go there and leave money, cause I wouldn't go there even for that money. You don't want an AI device that replaces respect for each others limits.

ghaff 2y ago
It's sort of inevitable in crowded situations. My main objection is when there's also loud music when that really isn't the purpose of the gathering.
pavel_lishin 2y ago
It's certainly their issue if they want to continue spending time with the group doing what most of the group prefers. > I don't get why people go there and leave money, cause I wouldn't go there even for that money. That's a problem with lack of empathy and understanding on your part, not with the group dynanimcs of that person's friends.
- wruza 2y ago
  Group dynamics are hard, see Abilene paradox. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abilene_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abilene_paradox
  - boringg 2y ago
    Always suspected this - didn't know there was an actual term for it. Thanks!
drewg123 2y ago
You don't always have a choice. Sometimes there are loud places where you just have to be (airports, train stations, etc). My most frustrating time is transiting airports with my wife, who is a very quiet talker.

dghughes 2y ago

People with some hearing loss can't hear consonants but vowels can be heard. I think that's why some people may assume they don't have a hearing problem. My Mother has had poor hearing for decades. She listened to a radio as a kid she held it next to her ear at a loud volume. Now she often says she "can't stand noise" but it's because she can't hear in loud environments anymore due to hear hearing problems. I've noticed she misses the start of a sentences like if I said "I'm going to get some milk" she heard "got some milk" (as in I just got it). Or she interrupts people because she can't hear the first part of someone starting to speak most people tend to speak low at the start of a sentence.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

ddmf 2y ago

I have issues with auditory processing disorder which means my hearing is actually really good, but someone talking to me seems to get a much lower decode priority than some random noise around me - if I can see the lips, even though I can't lipread, it helps me decode the speech with a much greater accuracy. Every time I looked into this, it seemed to push the link with autism and/or adhd - back in 2008 I wasn't diagnosed so I poo-pooed the idea somewhat. Now I'm diagnosed as AuDHD.

jives 2y ago
I'm recently diagnosed and I experience the same. Listening to someone in a crowded room takes a ton of effort because my brain wants to track all of the other conversations and noises.

dnpls 2y ago

The article mentions "The team is working to expand the system to earbuds and hearing aids in the future."

carlosjobim 2y ago

> In groups and with friends, it's inevitable that you end up in a busy restaurant or a bar, and it always frustrates me that I don't hear something, I ask the person to repeat only to not hear it again That's so you can lean in and get a little bit more friendly. Or go out for some fresh air together.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

foobarian 2y ago

I happened to go out with a group of workers from a deaf school. It was a particularly loud and annoying bar and it didn't bother them one bit. :-)

Pxtl 2y ago

My favorite case of this awkwardness: Other person: *mumble mumble* SOMETHING CLEARLY SPOKEN Me: I'm sorry, what? Them: "clearly spoken?" Me: No, the first part. Them: "something?" Me, giving up: *smiles and nods* Yeah! (quietly hopes I didn't just agree that putting hamsters in blenders or something is a cool idea)

Pxtl 2y ago

I've taken to wearing bone-conductors waaaaay to much, and I'm impressed with their flexibility for stuff like this. They keep my ears open, but when I need to hear the headset more clearly (like if I'm in a crowded area and taking a call) I can plug my ear with my finger and that both improves the audio quality of the bone conductor (it creates a speaker cabinet in your ear for a much fuller sound) and blocks out the outside noise. If you need full headphone-quality you put in ear-plugs. And they're pretty small and discrete. They're not perfect, but the fact that I can move smoothly from "I need my ears open but still want to hear my headset" to "I need to block out sound and hear my headset perfectly clearly" with just a finger or a pair of earplugs is great. Stick a shotgun mic (that's the term for a mic with tight directional cone, right? Not an audio guy) on the side and this would be really cool.

solarengineer 2y ago
Shokz has these bone conductor headsets with mics.
- tmtvl 2y ago
  I had Shokz bone-conducting headphones (openmove or something like that?), but unfortunately the battery died after a single charge. It was a shame 'cause I was really fond of them. If/when my headphones give the ghost I'll give them another shot.

nashashmi 2y ago

Tip for anyone trying to communicate in noisy room: 1. Don't speak fast. Speak slow. Enunciate and articulate all the consonants. And do it very slowly. Give the vowels lots of room to be noticed. 2. Don't speak lightly. 3. Don't mumble. Aayyeee hHHaaaVVE TTOOO GOOO NNAAAoooUUU

ljf 2y ago

As an older adult I've realised I most likely have ADHD - I've always struggled to focus in busy places, unless the person has my attention - as soon as we are in a group or people all talking or pitching in, and I can't focus on one face, I'm lost. My hearing is fine (I assume) - but I've come to realise I can't process information when there is too much going on. My family will often have the TV on, games playing on phones, and talking too - I just can't hack it. Equally the option to work from home has revolutionised my productivity - without having 10 things to filter out, I can just focus on getting the task in hand done. In an office I often get lost and distracted, and have to power through the noise.

onemoresoop 2y ago
Office is indeed distracting. I power through the most noisy times with white noise. I learned to enjoy it and it actually calms me a bit.

aquafox 2y ago

It seems you are describing the Cocktail party effect: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_party_effect https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_party_effect

rayxi271828 2y ago

> it always frustrates me that I don't hear something, I ask the person to repeat only to not hear it again, usually because they repeat it at the same low level I thought I was the only one with this problem! Someone would make a joke and I would have to pretend to laugh because I didn't even catch what he/she was saying and asking them to repeat it the 3rd time would be awkward. Even worse, it isn't always a joke, so even calibrating the laughter level is hard. Ugh.

Spooky23 2y ago

Look into Auditory Processing Disorder. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/auditory-processing-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20555261 https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/auditory-proc... A good hearing aid person or an audiologist can diagnose it. I found out that I likely have it, which explained alot of things in my life that I had experienced. In some scenarios, hearing aids can help, even though you don’t have a hearing problem per se.

dasKrokodil 2y ago

I think that the problem of not hearing well in places like busy restaurants and bars is also often exacerbated by bad room acoustics. Acoustics are sadly an often overlooked factor when designing interior spaces (except for concert halls and such obviously).

cbhl 2y ago

I've found that wearing $10 off-the-shelf "musicians" or "high fidelity" earplugs in such spaces helps my ability to hear/understand a lot. Yes, the stem sticks out, and everyone asks about them at least once, but I usually say something about wanting to "prevent tinnitus" and that it helps me hear them even better and they usually don't ask about it again.