thehumon:

I suffer from the second kind mentioned here. I felt a need to make this because even people I’ve known for years and who knows about my condition still get angry at me when I can’t hear what they say in noisy areas.

There’s also what’s called an auditory processing disorder, and it comes in several forms. One form is where you can hear the person clearly, but your brain doesn’t quite recognize that speech is happening, and doesn’t translate it. This usually happens due to other noise getting tangled up with the speech, or due to having a barrier in the way. It’s not a problem with volume, it’s a problem with the brain not quite registering what’s being said. I have that. I can’t understand people talking over loudspeakers, and I have a hard time understanding people who are behind me. It just sounds like noise. Sometimes, when I’m tired, conversations being had behind me sound like it’s a foreign language. 

The way to help with it is, when possible, face the person you’re talking to. If there’s background noise, projecting your voice a bit more can help. Not shouting, just speak as if the person you’re talking to is a bit further away. Really, just repeat yourself. If that doesn’t work, slow down and enunciate a bit. Don’t sound everything out really slowly like they’re an idiot, that’s sarcastic and not needed, just talk like you’re trying to get Siri to understand what you said. Rephrasing may also help. If you’ve had to repeat yourself several times, then and only then do you speak very slowly. Again, this is not because the other person is stupid or can’t understand plain English, this is a problem with the part of the brain that processes sounds. Sometimes you have to enunciate further for it to click. 

If all else fails, write it out on your phone.