Hearing everything, and inability to filter background noise

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Hello, After reading the 4 pages of posts, I had to get in on it. I also have very good hearing and hear everything, my kids hated that. But it makes it very difficult in crowds or public venues because I am in a sense listening to everyones conversations at once. It drives my wife crazy because I have trouble being a active listener for her. I've had this problem for many years but never diagnosed or even understood. My wife and I just had hearing tests, to see if some or any of the new noise reduction hearing aids would help me. The doctor was amazed that I not only have the hearing of a child, but a young child. He assured me I didn't need hearing aids, but didnt offer any suggestions or diagnosis. Same as the last EENT. I'm not sure if I have tinnitis or I'm hearing "the sound of silence". But it is always there, sometimes when I'm under alot of stress, it gets really loud. We did notice that the "sounds, whistles, buzzing" was all in the high frequency range,the same range where sirens are. I was a paramedic/Firefighter for 25 years. Now I'm an ER nurse, still alot of noise, still struggling to hear over everthing around me. Anyone got any notions of any diagosis, or how to proceed? And, very light music at night is the only way I can sleep.

I have this all day every day or should say 24/7 as its sleeping with earplugs too. earlier in life I thought it was normal and everyone was the same until I found otherwise.

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They warm up and become soft and create an air/water tight seal blocking noise out. I can't sleep without them now - although I can often hear my heartbeat once I block out the external stimuli.

I have it in my head that i was once able to filter noise (that said, i was mega scared by various sounds when i was younger). now, after years studying sound engineering at college - where a large part of the course involves active listening/binaural awareness and creating sounds based on environmental factors etc - i'm sure my brain is now rewired to listen to sounds from everywhere.

not saying this is a bad thing, but it sure has its disadvantages....



i'm not even aware of "over-thinking" my audio perception sometimes....

I definetly have this. If I'm on the phone and people talk to me I can't hear the phone conversation; if I'm playing Scrabble with mum and there is a ticking clock in the room, I can't get the noise out of my head; and my dad's TV which he has really loud (to me at least, noone else in the family seems to mind) gives me headaches and makes conversation with others in the house difficult.

i never understood why people on buses etc put a finger in one ear when on the phone as that just makes the phone harder to hear in the other ear, somehow...

I have this same problem, I was wondering what caused this, informative thread, another personal mystery answered

Great thread. Ears tested - perfect hearing -- "But, doc, I often can't make out conversations if there is minimal background noise?" Doc's reply, "Then your problem is cognitive."

IMO, wrong.

I have been diagnosed with this: Meniere's disease.

Standard hearing tests won't do it. You need to have your hearing for verbal sounds tested, with and without background noise. That is the only way the audiologist and then ENT doctor figured it out.

I'm not saying this is necessarily what your problem is (you'll notice there are other symptoms besides the hearing issues), but it might be worth looking into. I struggled with diminishing hearing for more than 10 years before it was figured out.

Same problem.

If there is other people talking, its not that i cant hear what the other person is saying. The problem is i can focus on that, if there is 5 people talking i hear in my ears the stream mixed with 5 voices.

Its so freaking annoying. not to mention frustrating.

Im not sure how other people can choose to not hear other noises. would pay a lot for that ability.

ahh!!i cant concentrate in any background noise s**t thing surrounds me..Its like making me crazy..with ears shut..People come to say im crazy..but how dude..Dude.. i cant..just cant..then im gonna freaking around like HULK angryly as you all f*****g disturb me!!!FUxk..

sorry guys...
just unleash what i feels..
just sorry...i need to..

sorry for necro the thread(i hope this is not againt the rules) but i had some experience to share. i had this problem since ever, but i was less sensible than nowadays and i became worst with the time. and theres a time few years ago that i was suspect that i had adhd without hyperactivity(i still believe i has but in comorbidity with autism) and my medic at the time(i tried some remedies for about a year)sugested ritalin for a few weeks. my sensibility to background was gone! its like i was not sensible to noises at all and i could do whetever i want without being distracted or anoyed but only when i was under the "effect" of the remedy. i believe that proof that sound sensibility it may be associated with a concentration problem, like my therapist said at the time. but i dont recomend anyone trying this remedy, is very dangerous and can ruin your health with the time because is too strong.

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to share.

Recently i've gotten even more sensitive to sound and I hear things very clearly. At night/early in the day for example when it's quiet around I hear the neighbours very clearly as they're talking or have their tv on and it disturbs me a lot but no one else in my family notice it so they think i'm just being weird or difficult. I really can't help what I hear though and I definietely think that I have an inability to filter background noise. For many years i've gotten horrible tension headaches from being around other people at school or in the bus because of all the noise and once at the bus I was very stressed, the bus was crowded and I was already in a bad mood and I got so overwhelmed by all the people talking and everything that I got a visual aura, started to see colors floating around and I started to panic and my head was pounding. I do not suffer from migraine.
It's starting to become really hard to deal with and I feel like most people do not understand or think i'm just being whiny and annoying. I also hate the feeling of earplugs so I don't want to wear them. I wear regular headphones but they don't really help much I still hear everything outside them.

Same here. I hear everything and have a hard time conversing with background noise. The worst is when the person I am talking with leans in close, then I kind of freak at the personal space invasion. My wire will often call me during the day with the TV on in the background to placate the kids and all I hear is the TV. She does not comprehend the effect that it has on me. I have taken to using my earmuffs more often. They do help with the sound causing physical pain, but do not help with not being able to differentiate different sounds. I do get strange looks and comments sometimes, but it is easier to say that the sound is uncomfortable than have a meltdown.

I too wear ear protectors at home when it's loud. The kids know Dad has sensitive ears and my wife is sympathetic so none of them think it's odd when I put them on around the house. I don't wear them all the time.

Today was my wife and my 17th anniversary. We were able to go out to eat alone for dinner to a restaurant we've been to many times. It was unusually crowded and loud. I did OK for awhile, but after a time with the many sounds at the same volume it was overwhelming. My wife was talking and I was trying to follow as best I could. She asked what was wrong because I "looked stressed". I told her "the noises". She understood then what my issue was. Plus I was distracted because one of two young kids at a table a fair distance from us, (I believe they were our server's kids) was periodically coughing so loudly and so much that he would end the jags by gagging. I would see our server go over and touch him sometimes or the tablet the kid was looking at. Germs....

I have that problem as well. I could be in a room where there's a band of singers performing and everybody is talking. I open my mouth to talk and I can't hear a thing that comes out of my mouth, never mind what everybody else at my table is talking about. There was a Cockney woman sitting at my table and she asked me, "Are you really that shy?" Being shy had nothing to do with it. It was the fact that I was sitting in a noisy room and I have an unusual accent that was keeping me quiet.