If you are struggling to hear and you’ve been told that your hearing is normal, it’s the perfect time to get a second opinion. We hear with our brain and it’s quite possible that the information your brain receives is misinterpreted. Auditory processing disorder is a real phenomenon that unfortunately gets missed with a basic hearing assessment.
Brain hearing is complex because listening undergoes many processes. When broken down, the brain needs to decode speech,
separate voices, filter out background sounds, process and make sense of words. Timing is involved and it is truly as complicated as it sounds.
The way your brain processes speech may work differently than the average person. Two people can hear the same sound and interpret it in a totally different way. One person hears clearly and the other hears distortion. Think about that for a moment! Perhaps you misunderstand certain words in a conversation ( ie. stitch for switch). This can make a conversation both humorous and embarrassing at the same time.
Hearing is much more than simply detecting sounds. Sometimes a basic hearing evaluation isn’t enough. It may require getting more information by administering a different battery of tests. And ultimately, there are treatment solutions to improve your processing abilities.
Find an audiologist who will dig deeper if the results of a basic hearing assessment provided you with no helpful recommendations. There is no reason for you to struggle. We’d love to help.