Today I went to my Nurse Practitioner (she's my primary care person...) and one of the things I wanted to get checked was my hearing, because more and more I've noticed myself having to ask people to repeat themselves. I've even had my boss ask me if something was up with my hearing (not sarcastically, he was seriously concerned).... but nothing sounded muffled, it was just very hard to pick out voices from all the other noises.

They tested my hearing and it was fine. She said she thinks it's due to ADD and says I should look into occupational therapy.

Has anyone else come across this? Does this sound right?

I can hear noises, and I can hear the SOUND of people's voices, but I have a very hard time picking out words. This has certainly gotten worse the past few months.

I'm 20 years old, so I'm a bit concerned about it... :confused:

Hmmm I've noticed this a lot with myself recently.

My hearing's always been good, but picking out words can be troublesome for me sometimes. Thinking about it, I often say "I thought you said..." but it'll usually be that I'm not properly paying attention and then my mind will somehow twist what people say into something inappropriately funny and I'll snap back to reality.

Sorry I don't have any advice or help for you but I understand what you're saying. I think it's just a lot to do with losing focus, I don't realise I'm doing it most of the time and then I'll suddenly think 'sorry what did you say?!?'..

Hrm, you should try to make an appointment with an audiologist. Standard hearing tests aren't precise enough to catch the multitude of auditory processing difficulties folks can run into.

Were you actually diagnosed with ADHD prior to that appointment? If so, was it ADHD-I?

Auditory Processing Disorder (big ol' umbrella term for lots of problems) by itself will meet the diagnostic criteria of ADHD-I. It is not, however, ADHD. (And it's certainly not helped by the fact that short-term verbal memory deficits are common in both diagnoses!) It will cause a LOT of reported inattention though. Lots of "What?" and "Huh?". Don't get me wrong- the two can co-exist. But it's worth it to try to get it sorted out. There's some anecdotal evidence that stimulant medication actually helps with some auditory processing problems though, so there may be some benefit in it.

Yeah, I've been diagnosed with ADHD. They didn't specify which kind, but I tend to lean more toward inattentive.

It's not that I'm not paying attention. I just really can't pick out their voice over other noise. I can hear the sound of them talking but have trouble hearing the WORDS.
Does that make any sense?

Yeah I've often had to get people to repeat themselves for me. I find it happens more and more with the more load placed on the working memory.

wow....now that you mention it and I think about it.........I have the same problem...I am often asking people to repeat themselves and when watching TV I often ask my wife what the person said. Not because I didnt hear what was said but be cause I didnt pick up the Word(s) that were said. I didnt think of that as a part of ADD before now.

Again, there's a subtle difference beween ADHD and APD.

If the problem is that folks have to repeat themselves *while you're actively paying attention*, that's likely not ADHD. With full attention, someone with ADHD should have no problems with that.

Now, if yo'ure in a crowded area with lots of motion and sound, ADHD can make things worse. But you should feel the inattention first, and the "hearing" problems later. If the hearing problems are first, THEN you seem to check out, that's more indicative of APD.

The OP is describing a classic APD problem with differentiating between background noise. It causes serious difficulties in the classroom for children, and it is not significantly aided by stimulant medication.

There really is a need to fine-tune diagnostic criteria to keep out APD. Of all the copycat disorders, APD is probably the one that is most often misdiagnosed as ADHD. Not only are these people inattentive when it comes to auditory stimuli, but the brain rewires itself to become far more sensitive to peripheral vision stimuli to compensate for the auditory issues- so they become very susceptible to visual distraction. APD also produces the same nonsequential thinking patterns and disorganization we've come to know and love in ADHD, as well as, like I said earlier, classic short-term memory deficits.

Sadly, only an audiologist can really tell the difference in many cases, and audiology hasn't yet amassed much data on what APD looks like in adults- most of what we have is only good for children.

I have trouble "decoding" the words that i hear from people i barely know.
Maybe it's because i'm not used with their voices.

I've definitely had a similar thing going on, although it's gotten better as I get older.

I've found myself or having to ask 2-3 times for people to repeat themselves before giving up and guessing what they said, and it's very embarrassing a lot of the time. Also, I sometimes impulsively interrupt people with "what?" before they've even finished speaking, which makes me think it's ADHD related even though it still happens when I'm trying my best to focus on them.

In fact, I'd say it happens more often when I really want to listen. It kinda feels like I'm over-focusing on their words because I'm anxious I'll miss them, but that causes me to miss what the whole message actually means.

BTW, hi forums :)

I've definitely had a similar thing going on, although it's gotten better as I get older.

I've found myself or having to ask 2-3 times for people to repeat themselves before giving up and guessing what they said, and it's very embarrassing a lot of the time. Also, I sometimes impulsively interrupt people with "what?" before they've even finished speaking, which makes me think it's ADHD related even though it still happens when I'm trying my best to focus on them.

In fact, I'd say it happens more often when I really want to listen. It kinda feels like I'm over-focusing on their words because I'm anxious I'll miss them, but that causes me to miss what the whole message actually means.

BTW, hi forums :)

Hrm, that actually sounds a lot like someone who's learned to deal with APD over the years. The anxiety over missing what they're saying would be consistent with someone who has problems processing oral language and knows it, the interruptions are also consistent with someone who simply expects (after years of experience) that they aren't going to understand/or that they already don't understand and would rather get clarification now before it gets even more complicated.

If the primary inattention/impulsivity issues seem to center around hearing people speak and deciphering what they're saying, then auditory tests may be called for. If the inattention/impulsivity is fairly consistent in severity no matter what the circumstances, well then that's a different story.

I burst an eardrum in 1997 and had thought for a long time that it was the reason for my poor hearing.

Since 2006 I've had my hearing tested 3 times (once for my own benefit, the second time was a medical for getting a job in a call centre and the 3rd time was for an accoustic incident).

All 3 tests have come back fine but when there is background noise I can't hear a thing. If I'm in the kitchen and the kettle is on I can't hear the TV and if I'm on my bike and it's windy I can't hold a conversation.

When I'm in a noisey place and there is a group of people talking I almost always miss what's being said and everyone thinks that coz of the ADD that I didn't get the joke but it's coz I can't hear them that I don't react (also sometimes I don't get jokes). I find it better not to go into crowded noisey places.

Surprisingly I can cope with my job in the call centre unless the turn up the aircon to 'aeroplane take off level' which rarely happens.

I had my hearing checked a lot as a child but it always came back normal. They tested me a lot coz I had a lot of ear infections. Not sure if it would be worth testing for now coz I don't think there's anything they can do.

I went for a hearing test when I was young, and then again when I was older. Both said it was me not paying attention and that my hearing was fine.

Also had to complete hearing tests for medical purposes at my old job (ride operator at a theme park, you have to pass a medical test) and it has been fine.

I can really relate to asking people to repeat themselves 2-3 times! It's often people that talk fast or when I am anxious.

I can also relate to the saying "what?" thing before they have even finished. I dunno how to explain it really, but I reckon it's something like this:
I know that I am not listening so I say "what?" before they have finished speaking to help myself and to help them. So rather than let them carry on then have to repeat the whole thing, I interrupt part-way through, meaning they don't have to repeat the whole thing, only some of it.

Sometimes I've been to embarrassed to ask them to repeat themselves, and ended up asking 5 minutes later to their annoyance (usually if they are a grumpy person anyways!) or left it and done something wrong :o

Hrm, that actually sounds a lot like someone who's learned to deal with APD over the years. The anxiety over missing what they're saying would be consistent with someone who has problems processing oral language and knows it, the interruptions are also consistent with someone who simply expects (after years of experience) that they aren't going to understand/or that they already don't understand and would rather get clarification now before it gets even more complicated.

If the primary inattention/impulsivity issues seem to center around hearing people speak and deciphering what they're saying, then auditory tests may be called for. If the inattention/impulsivity is fairly consistent in severity no matter what the circumstances, well then that's a different story.

I'll definitely look into it, my issues do seem a little worse when it comes to verbal communication.

I went for a hearing test when I was young, and then again when I was older. Both said it was me not paying attention and that my hearing was fine.

Also had to complete hearing tests for medical purposes at my old job (ride operator at a theme park, you have to pass a medical test) and it has been fine.

I can really relate to asking people to repeat themselves 2-3 times! It's often people that talk fast or when I am anxious.

I can also relate to the saying "what?" thing before they have even finished. I dunno how to explain it really, but I reckon it's something like this:
I know that I am not listening so I say "what?" before they have finished speaking to help myself and to help them. So rather than let them carry on then have to repeat the whole thing, I interrupt part-way through, meaning they don't have to repeat the whole thing, only some of it.

Sometimes I've been to embarrassed to ask them to repeat themselves, and ended up asking 5 minutes later to their annoyance (usually if they are a grumpy person anyways!) or left it and done something wrong :o

Totally. This is pretty much exactly how it is for me, too.

I know that I am not listening so I say "what?" before they have finished speaking to help myself and to help them. So rather than let them carry on then have to repeat the whole thing, I interrupt part-way through, meaning they don't have to repeat the whole thing, only some of it.

Sometimes I've been to embarrassed to ask them to repeat themselves, and ended up asking 5 minutes later to their annoyance (usually if they are a grumpy person anyways!) or left it and done something wrong :o

I can very easily relate to this, particularly the part in italics.

My supervisor at my last job would often give me long, verbal lists of things to do, or a series directions on how to do a new project. At first, I would be trying so hard to remember everything she said that, by the time she got to the end of the list, I'd already forgotten stuff from the beginning. When I went to ask for clarification, she told me I was a "terrible listener" and that it was disrespectful to her.

However, if I just "tried really hard" to remember everything she said and didn't go ask her for clarification (because I was tired of being yelled at for not remembering), I would often make a mistake. Then she'd get on my case for not asking her questions if there was something about the project I didn't understand.

This all happened before I was diagnosed with ADD-I.

you might unconsciously do what I do... That is not hear people sometimes. I litterally can not hear people sometimes, I'll be looking at them, and they'll say something and I'll have no idea that they even just spoke- I never thought anything of it, but it might have something to do with ADD now that you mention it

Yes it must definetly must have something to do with add. Sometimes I just cant hear because of the noise in my head. Poeple teel me Im going deaf all the time.
Goofycook