Having to hear something a second time

Started by Alfieri September 19th, 2014 12:27 PM
  • 751 views
  • 15 replies

Alfieri

aka Ronnie

Age 27
Male
New York City
Seen June 23rd, 2019
Posted June 23rd, 2019
2,850 posts
9.2 Years
You know those moments when someone calls your name and asks you to do something but you're caught off guard and immediately ask what? Then the person has to ask you a second time, repeating themselves.

Like I heard what they were asking me to do the first time but my natural response is always "what?", forcing them to repeat it. What about you guys? Are you able to get what a person asks you the first time, or are you like me and naturally respond "what?" even after hearing it the first time clearly?

Shiny Bunnelby

Tolerated, but never celebrated.

Age 31
Female
Oklahoma, United States
Seen November 1st, 2015
Posted April 20th, 2015
362 posts
8.9 Years
There are days when I can hear perfectly fine, but the sentence processes in my brain all jumbled up. I ask "What?" after several times and sometimes still don't understand. It's as if I forget my own language from time to time. I feel pretty bad, because I imagine it's frustrating to deal with.
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Nah

Age 30
she/her, they/them
Seen 4 Hours Ago
Posted 1 Day Ago
15,644 posts
9.5 Years
or are you like me and naturally respond "what?" even after hearing it the first time clearly?
That's me, all the time.

4/25
Nah ンン
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maccrash

foggy notion

Age 24
Male
Massachusetts
Seen October 7th, 2021
Posted April 17th, 2017
3,583 posts
9.2 Years
usually I only do something like this if someone tells me to do something I really don't want to do, so then I reflexively just say "what?" as if their answer's gonna change or something even though I know it won't.
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Megan

She/Her, It/Its
Seen 9 Hours Ago
Posted 16 Hours Ago
17,811 posts
10.3 Years
My head's always in the clouds; I'm always in deep thought, which means if there is, by any chance anyone who tries talking to me, there's a high probability that I simply overhear them.
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Sonata

Don't let me disappear

Age 27
Male
Indiana
Seen 9 Hours Ago
Posted March 25th, 2023
13,619 posts
10.2 Years
I'm like almost always doing something else when someone asks me to do something so I have to ask what after they say it. Unless it's my dad, in which case I get up and go somewhere else so that I can think about it and try to remember what it was he said because if I say what to him he usually takes it like I'm trying to get an attitude with him and he'll yell at me.
Age 36
Female
Australia
Seen May 21st, 2016
Posted May 18th, 2016
458 posts
9 Years
I do this a lot to my husband and he gets really annoyed.

He especially hates it when I say "what?" and then he goes to repeat himself and I cut him off by answering what he originally said.

In the time it took for me to say "what?" and him to begin to repeat himself my brain has processed the sounds I heard into an understandable string of words. As a result I should have waited before saying anything. Unfortunately, it's a reflex to say "what?" as soon as I don't understand as opposed to waiting for my brain to translate for me. It is a bad habit I need to kick.

Juno

OK I PULL UP

Age 28
Female
Seen 2 Days Ago
Posted 1 Week Ago
4,561 posts
9.5 Years
I only ask "what?" or "sorry?" if the place we're in is kinda loud and I genuinely can't hear the other person.

It is pretty annoying when people just say that automatically. So a while ago I started doing this - if I say something and I know they heard me (the environment isn't too loud, they're not listening to music or otherwise preoccupied, my voice wasn't too quiet, etc) and they say "what", I'll just wait and say nothing until they respond. 98% of the time, they did hear me and can reply perfectly fine, so there's no need for me to repeat myself.

Sothis

Guns and ammo lie in front of you

She/her
Firene
Seen 1 Day Ago
Posted 1 Day Ago
17,844 posts
9.9 Years
My parents repeat it anyway. They always assume I can't understand what they're saying. It's rather irritating.

But with others I just say "Pardon" when I didn't hear.

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Corvus of the Black Night

Wild Duck Pokémon

Age 30
Non-binary
With the Birds
Seen January 9th, 2015
Posted January 9th, 2015
3,416 posts
14.3 Years
I think I either have a hearing problem or I am slightly losing my ability to understand people. I am noticing recently that I have to have people repeat themselves several times to understand them sometimes. I don't think it's the former, I might just be getting overly stressed which is interfering with my ability to understand speech properly.

It feels like auditory dyslexia, if that makes any sense.