Hearing one person in a crowded room? Monaural or Binaural?

Page 1 of 1 [ 8 posts ] 

VIDEODROME
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Age: 47
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,691

18 Mar 2012, 11:10 pm

I've sometimes wondered about this but it doesn't come up as a real problem very often. Recently though I was meeting some people and trying to have a conversation. First we were upstairs in a bigger room then went downstairs in a smaller room where they had snacks and coffee.

I was sitting right next to this person introducing me to the group and noticed they didn't seem to find the crowded room difficult to converse in. I had previously always thought it would be hard for anyone to talk in a loud noisy room. However, after reading it sounds like what I experience is like lost hearing range. This is unexpected because in any recent doctor appointment I've been able to hear faint sounds and pass the test. Otherwise, something else suggests this is caused by Unbalanced hearing whatever that is. Or monaural hearing if you have one good ear but I'm not aware of having a bad ear. I just played a YouTube Stereo test and heard both sides in my headphones.

Apparently normal people have Binaural hearing and can isolate a conversation in a crowded room. I don't think I've ever been good at differentiating a conversation in a crowded room without some difficulty. Well maybe way back in Highschool with the 1 or 2 friends at my table, but us nerds weren't in the middle of the crowd. Frankly, I'm learning something new that people can "tune-in" to a local conversation with background noise.

So I'm wondering if it could be my ears, or does my brain not naturally juggle audio allowing me to pick out a conversation in a crowd. I mean seriously I enjoy music on headphones and value Stereo Sound. Other then this I'd have no clue my ears might have an issue.



DeadalusRex
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 9 Mar 2012
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 31

18 Mar 2012, 11:23 pm

If you've just had your hearing tested recently It's obviously not that. A lot of us have this problem-- it's just plain old sensory overload. It's defiantly worse for Aspies, but despite appearances, NTs have this problem to some extent too--it's the reason why bars and clubs are so loud and dark-- if people can't see or hear each other they give up trying to communicate and drink more alcohol. If you search "binaural recording" on soundcloud and or youtube you should be able to find some recordings that you can listen to on headphones(doesn't work on speakers) that give an incredibly vivid 3 dimensional sound field. Really cool stuff.



VIDEODROME
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Age: 47
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,691

18 Mar 2012, 11:48 pm

Okay maybe some people have a higher threshold before they have a problem.

For comparison on Mondays I go to a book store for a general meetup group and discussion of random stuff. Current events or politics or whatever. As long as no more then 2 conversations are going I can keep up and basically handle it. It's just about 7 people on average sitting at one table.

The other gathering I mentioned in the OP was a new church I was curious about. I could follow the service okay and joined in for the social hour down stairs looking forward to learning their views. It was a smaller space with families chattering and I could not tune it out. It was this most recent experience that made me think something is up because the person welcoming me didn't seem to mind the noise. Another person walked over and casually talked normally.

I may just have to explain the problem to people.

I tried a few of those Binaural audio clips that was interesting. It seems like I do have Binaural directional hearing but it has limits to noise overload. Or maybe limits to multitasking audio sources.



RazorEddie
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Jan 2012
Age: 53
Gender: Male
Posts: 610

19 Mar 2012, 1:38 am

This issue has nothing to do with your hearing. It is more of an information processing problem. The human brain hasn't got enough processing power to handle all incoming information. It filters out the vast majority so it can concentrate on the important details.
The problem is that most autistics have poor filtering so your brain ends up overloaded with irrelevant information. People who appear to be able to converse easily in a crowded room have good filtering abilities so while they are aware of the noise they effectively tune it out. This problem is not only limited to autistics. Many NTs have the same issues.
It is actually quite interesting how much your brain does this sort of thing. For instance you only actually see detail in a fairly small area. Your brain concentrates on that area and maintains a model of the rest of your surroundings which it updates next time you look around. That is why your eyes tend to keep moving. You are continually updating your internal image of the world a piece at a time. Another trick your brain uses is to turn off your sight while your eyes are moving. It is just too much work to process the rapidly moving image. If you don't believe this, look in a mirror. Keep looking at one eye then looking at the other. You are obviously moving your eyes but you won't see the movement happen.


_________________
I stopped fighting my inner demons. We're on the same side now.


DeadalusRex
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 9 Mar 2012
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 31

19 Mar 2012, 1:53 am

I know what you mean about Churches-- If they set up the hall with individual tables where you can sit down with a small group its great(or at least manageable) but if it's just a free for all with everyone standing around cocktail party style it's a nightmare. Unfortunately a lot of people (well NT extroverts anyway) have the idea that the former set up is somehow anti-social because it doesn't allow people to mingle freely, and they just don't understand the issue even when you try to explain it. That said If you decide to stick around I think it's defiantly something worth mentioning to the clergy/ lay leaders. I can guarantee you are not the only one with the problem(imagine what it's like for people who do have hearing impairment) and if enough people mention it they might give it some thought.



questor
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Apr 2011
Age: 63
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,696
Location: Twilight Zone

19 Mar 2012, 3:06 am

I agree with the other posters. What you describe is definitely a processing problem caused by sensory overload. Everybody does get effected by it in crowded situations to some extent, but people on the spectrum, and people with hearing problems tend to have a harder time with it.


_________________
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured, or far away.--Henry David Thoreau


starryeyedvoyager
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Apr 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 942
Location: Berlin, Germany

19 Mar 2012, 3:11 am

I have the same problem. If I am in a croweded room, for about 10 minutes, I can follow almost every single conversation that is going on around me within audible range, and could recite them almost completely accurate. After that, my brain just flicks the switch, says "That's it, I'm out of here, call me when you are on your own again", and I have suddenly problems following even one person. I really need to focus in general to understand what people are saying, even though I have a quite accute sense of hearing.



VIDEODROME
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Age: 47
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,691

19 Mar 2012, 9:21 am

DeadalusRex wrote:
I know what you mean about Churches-- If they set up the hall with individual tables where you can sit down with a small group its great(or at least manageable) but if it's just a free for all with everyone standing around cocktail party style it's a nightmare. Unfortunately a lot of people (well NT extroverts anyway) have the idea that the former set up is somehow anti-social because it doesn't allow people to mingle freely, and they just don't understand the issue even when you try to explain it. That said If you decide to stick around I think it's defiantly something worth mentioning to the clergy/ lay leaders. I can guarantee you are not the only one with the problem(imagine what it's like for people who do have hearing impairment) and if enough people mention it they might give it some thought.


Thanks for all the feedback on this. Over the last few years I've worked as a commercial driver and with so much solitary time this just hasn't come up in quite a while. However now I'm trying to get out of that and retrain in College and maybe even meet people again.


In that small social area under the church they just have a few round tables that filled up and then you have people standing around. So gradually as the room filled up it was getting harder to hear specific people.