Have a problem understanding when there is background noise?

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I do that too, lol.
In fact, when 2 of my aquaintances decided to start talking loudly to me at the same time I got very angry and shouted at one of them as it really was as if my head was going to implode.

Yes. I have trouble with both background noise, multiple conversations going on at the same time, and also people with foreign accents.

This is sort of related (or not), but I can’t stand it when people say something that doesn’t make sense because they leave out some important context that I am supposed to assume. If I give a puzzled look or ask what they just said they repeat the EXACT damn thing lauder and in a slow condescending tone. Don't act all annoyed or talk to me like I'm a retart, just state things more clearly. Argh. I thought taking things literally was an aspie trait. It seems that when you don’t understand something NTs automatically assume you are either hard of hearing or stupid. Bugs the sh*t out of me sometimes.

It is difficult for me to listen to two signals at the same time, and impossible for me to read if the noise level is too loud.

Two people talking to me at the same time just wastes three people's time.

I have this problem sometimes. If things are too noisy and someone talks to me all I hear is a jumbled mess.

Meaningless to the ear but distracting to the mind.

when I got my current job I had a 'test phone call' that had background noise, 9a child crying and water running) while a woman talked rapidly with a Asian accent. It was all I could do to separate out all the sounds and concentrate on centering in the voice. I usually tell myself a story in my mind, admiring that person for whom English is not a first language, because I learned to speak French and know how difficult other languages are when there is no facial cues or body stance for NTs.

I love having our members on the other end of the phone, though. They are in my domain, no face, no body, nothing but words, words, words and I am quite verbal. I am a actor on the phone. I am an actor in life, All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, And one in his time plays many parts.

Merle

I have trouble keeping focused on what people are saying so I often miss words... nothing to do with background noise though... I have some sort of ADD though, so it's probably to be expected...

My biggest problem with foreign accents is that I always feel guilty for not understanding when they ask me something. The most awkward thing is when you have to ask them to repeat themselves more than once. Often it gets to the point where I just pretend I understood. Asian accents are the most difficult for me. I've had problems with classes where the professor had too much of an accent for me to understand a word he was saying.

When I worked for fast food places and a Spanish speaking person ordered I spoke with them in Spanish instead of trying to figure out their English. It works much better if you can do speak more than one language. Although Asian accents are annoying to me too, kinda worse than a high pitched southern drawl.

Maybe I should try yelling that! I have one relative who constantly interrupts and starts loud side conversations if she isn't the centre of attention at that particular moment. It's rude and infuriating.

I wonder if this is why I always have trouble picking lyrics out of songs

Oh yes. Same here.

It helps if you can rephrase what you think they're saying and say it back to them.

"Let me see if I'm understanding you. You're saying that you get frustrated and give up and pretend to understand after one or two failures at understanding? Is that right?"

That is a good suggestion but I have found they need to break it down into individual words, though if the words have too many syllables that can be problematic too.

Neurotypicals can get very frustrated with someone who appears dumb and unless its essential, I do give up.

In the restaurant, the people with me filled in the blanks for me so I did get most of what the waitress was saying and was able to confirm my order.

I have just the OPPOSITE issue, BladeRoden. As a child I thought I was the only person that could pick out the lyrics of a song and would 'help' people by 'speaking' the lyrics back to them like I was a public service announcement. I would get so frustrated if they asked me to stop, thinking they didn't realize I was only trying to help them with their inability to hear them.


Merle