Where’s my closed caption peeps at??!? 🙌🏾

The delays!!! The poorly annunciated words! When water is running or there’s wind! YES!! Might be unrelated, but if any of my ‘fave songs’ start playing I literally can’t focus on what anyone else is saying regardless of how serious the topic may be. This is what actually started my journey to finding out I’m autistic after 40yrs, during a convo with another mom where I broke down apologizing (in between verses) and she responded, “That’s okay. I’ve got 3 autistic daughters at home just like you.” 😳 Bless her!!!

I learned American Sign Language because I was sure I was losing my hearing. It has come in handy though lol that's a good one 😂 but yes ASL is essential because I ended up marrying my cute husband who is Deaf and Autistic.

Yes -- conversations in groups are terrible. I usually ask for instructions and requests in writing if I can get them and use closed captions when they're available.

I have a 35-60% hearing loss and tinnitus. I also have asd. Double whammy. Sooooo much of this video applies to me. It sucks and it's very difficult at times to the point where I have to smile and nod and give up trying to figure out what's going on. The social anxiety that stems from this is very real.

Notes, no problem. Harmonic intervals, no problem. Instrumental timbres, no problem. Lyrics ... uh ... well, " ... when I dressed a Porsche weasel, she refused to be the master ..."

25:52 😂 reading the close captions while hearing you saying " something about the close captions.."😂✌️they help with ADHD too

0:56 wait...REALLY😮? That's ALSO an autism related thing? I did go to the testing, they did tell me my ears work perfect and same time I am extremly noise sensitive with bothering sounds. I am really exited now to hear more😊

Had a partner who used to weaponize this against me. This is abuse. They’d mumble all the time, especially in loud environments or during arguments. Also, they’d get angry when I’d laugh at myself for mis-hearing. They also startled me on purpose and would act offended when i startled at unexpected sounds. Have confidence! Don’t let these ppl undermine your self esteem or gaslight you with your disability. ❤️

I'm not (yet) convinced I have autism, but I do share a lot of the same issues. This video in particular. I absolutely have APD, get startled all the time and have Misophonia.

Before I got my autism diagnosis much later as an adult I got my ears checked as a kid because I kept misunderstanding people or couldn‘t hear them very well in noisy environments. Turned out I actually was/am having a few deficits with hearing but nothing too major (runs in the family though). But when I got a hearing aid device it actually became even WORSE. I could differentiate noises even LESS and I got severe headaches after less than an hour wearing them. Even though we kept adjusting the device over and over again for months it just never got any better. So eventually I didn‘t wear it anymore because it really crippled my mental capacity. It felt like it pushed me to a mental burnout by overwhelming me in record time. And now that I have my autism diagnosis it makes so much sense. Because hearing a little bit less actually helps when you’re having auditory filtering difficulties. The challenge with differentiating noises and voices of people remain either way but at least I don‘t get overwhelmed by noises as easily and fast because I don‘t hear so well. When your brain is having trouble filtering noises it is actually beneficial (to your mental energy at least) if there is less to filter after all.

Nailed it! I almost had an argument with hearing specialist years ago when he told me I had good hearing! And the many hilarities thru life when I've misunderstood words from others. Thanks yet again for another life long confusion making sense ❤

this is messed up!! this is EXACTLY what I was telling my psych during my screening! I had no words to describe it, though... My wife, daughter and I were going to a restaurant. I dropped them off at the door with the usual instructions- a booth on the outside periphery of the room. I parked the car, walked in and the hostess led us to a table in the center of the room. I literally said, "nope," turned around and walked out. What I recall, (because these situations are confusing to me; i don't have words to describe) (well, now I do) is what seems like I'm looking through a horizontally-oblong oval occupying approximately 1/3 center of my visual field. Outside that oval is fuzz, like TV static/snow, or wavy lines; whatever it is, i can't see through it. The commotion is what I cannot deal with, though. Maybe I don't have words for it, because I don't recognize it. It is like the loudest, monotone, consistently-pitched-audience-talking commotion, with an overlying harmonic resonance. Through it all, i can't understand people speaking to me. I have to ask "what?" all the time, because their words are gibberish. I mean, they are words, but not the words they are saying; like my brain randomly switched the words. But she said it's social anxiety. I have worked in healthcare for 18 years and have never had a problem with people. Crowds and groups are loud and stimulating. I avoid and abhor the COMMOTION!!! NOT the people; people I am indifferent, but would rather be alone, because I feel I am different from everyone else (aside from my close family). Now the very next topic was ALSO an issue. She says, "First, I want to say, you are VERY bright! However, you have difficulty thinking." I felt like she kissed my cheek gently as she disemboweled me. I just stared, like, "Whaaa??" She said I am intelligent, but my brain has difficulty switching tasks, topics, etc. It is slow to do so. Causes anxiety when pressured to do so. Which makes sense, because I prefer written communication (texts, emails, etc.), due to randomness of spoken conversations and the jumping between topics. I can do it, but I misunderstand what people are saying a lot

3:00 as a Highly Sensitive Person l struggled my whole life with background noises. Very far noises block my hearing of the person in front of me 🤦 Man what a struggle living next to a busy street 😭 moving cars hurt my ears.. I also have a history of ear infections my whole childhood and still get them from time to time.. I'm 30! I'm someone who stays silent for way too long, loove the peace and hearing my inner monologues 😅, I also don't like yelling or loud people 🤦 what a pain man! I'm also almost always late to respond, as you said it's the slow processing; it's worse on the phone 😅and OMG with outer noises pain... Auditory hypersensitivity 👂 PS: loove the Aussie accents 🤭

Omg thank you yes yes yes. I hear everything or nothing. Absolutely no ability to filter anything out. And i have hyperacusis meaning I hear everything louder.

Unexpected noises 100% And! Background music in KZfaq videos when someone is talking

This is such an accurate description of me. I have always passed hearing tests just fine. A few years ago I went to an audiologist specifically to address my difficulties hearing with background noise. She told me my hearing is fine and that the problem was with my brain. However, she gave me no additional information. Nothing on what its cause might be, or what to do about it. It wasn't until recently that I realized I almost certainly have autism (I don't have an official diagnosis), and that this is a common issue.

On the subject of accent, don't worry about yours Orion, I am not even a native English speaker and I can understand you perfectly. In fact I like that you speak very clearly, must be all those radio years !

As a student audiologist thank you for making this video on APD. It's very helpful for people with APD or friends/family/coworkers to have this resource to understand what exactly is happening to the hearing of people with APD alongside how they can better communicate to them. The misconceptions that people with normative audiograms have normal hearing, alongside that everyone with hearing difficulties just needs the volume turned up on become the most counterproductive with cases of APD.

This is me.. at work struggling to get my job done.

I’m a newly AuDHD diagnosed elder (age 64). This video literally blew my mind. The things I’m learning have been epic! I’ve been told I misunderstand 100% of what I hear. I’ve been fired for insubordination because of it, and had many misunderstandings and mistakes with my husband. I’ve learned to say, “so what I heard you say is” (fill in the blank). Every stinking time they say, “No. That’s not what I said”. So. Let me get this straight… This has been auditory processing disorder with autism my whole freaking time?! MIND. BLOWN. 😮

Orion, firstly thank you for your humour. I love that you just let it come out and even play with it. Very appreciated because not many people can actually make me laugh out loud so cuddos and thank you. Second, these examples are basically my lived experiences as well. I am not diagnosed but have been researching Autism for quite a few years and it sure explains everything for me. Having channel's like yours to glean tips, tricks and info from is in itself a source guidence and relief at better understanding myself and feeling less alone/odd. Thanks a whole bunch Man! ✋ ❤

There's a song that I found that emulates what APD is like when it's acting up. "Prisencolinensinainciusol" It's awesome to show people without it, what it feels like to have APD. It's funny how many often will mention the humorous faulty sound translation. I've also noticed that many of us rely on looking at lips to help correct the sound processing. Essentially light lip reading at a subconscious level.

The problem with “closed captions” is that they’re frequently wrong!

I love to use subtitles on tv show, KZfaq videos and movies even though I have perfect hearing. I'm even using them on this video lol.

Thx for the vid. I'm a late in life diagnosis and this is just one of many things I'm learning. I thought I was just a visual learner. But I have real problems with processing. I was in Naval ROTC as a young man. I always had trouble with a long list of verbal orders.

Machiery/electronics sometimes sound like metallic music to me. But if it makes like a repetitive or irregular pattern it ruins my day. Think a closed door trembling in its latch when theres a strong draft. Also does anyone else almost selectively muffle the outside world and escape into your thoughts and then if it’s quiet and you’re hyper fixated on something a loud sneeze can make you jump out of your skin!?

Thank you for this! I never understood this! And solutions! 🎉

This may be helpful for people with audio processing disorder: Carry a notebook and write down anything important as people talk. When I write information down, I usually remember it, and as an added bonus, I can look back through my notes, and I have almost all the information while most everyone else can not remember correctly what actually happened. This is a great way to ancor interactions in reality instead of remembered emotions and wishful thinking on their part. I gained a huge amount of credibility and reliability by talking notes. I blew everyone else out of the water.

Hi Orion, I'm so glad you made a video about this. I'm autistic and I also have APD. I've observed that one of the difficulties I have because of APD can cause frustration in other people, because they think I'm not listening to them when they speak to me- I tell them that I hear them, that I understand their words, and that I'm listening, but what they're saying to me sometimes isn''t registering in my brain. I also have the volume problem you mentioned- many people tell me that I'm shouting when I talk to them, but to me it doesn't sound like it. Over time, I have learned to avoid the loud talking by consciously talking more softly than I normally would, especially when I'm excited about something, so that I'm not accused of shouting.

11:10 totally relatable 😂 I never catch public announcements😅

Again, smashed it Orion thank you for being you, valued and appreciated 🙏 God bless you and the family, 🇬🇧

I’ve been tested. Exceptional hearing!!! Yet I must say I’m hard of hearing so I can get a repeat. Names! Ugg. Faces I remember names not so much. Usually I recall the first letter of the name. It’s all all about the processing 😢. Yes, ASL helps. Although deaf can have dismissive attitude towards hearing people. I found that I needed to ask my deaf friends to slow down on their signing I even need time to process that !!! I seriously do not fit anywhere. I’ve stopped trying. I actually do fit when I’m in nature so that’s my friend I guess 😊 I’m pretty good at lip reading since childhood. It all takes so much energy. I just don’t have the energy anymore. 60 yrs and I’m exhausted

I was diagnosed with this in my 20's, long before anyone noticed I was autistic. Prior to that diagnosis, I used to call it "What? Oh" syndrome. I was lucky in that the audiology department where I went to get my hearing checked actually was one of the few places and audiologists that could test for Auditory Processing Disorder. Thanks for talking about this subject.

So much of this!!!! Thank you!!! To help me focus in meetings, I stream bi-aural beats from KZfaq. They help lower my anxiety which helps in work meetings. I turn them down in my headphones not to become a distraction. When I have it leveled right, I can participate without falling behind and have far fewer miscommunications.

13:19 Orion, I feel STRONG relation to the issues I get with other people getting mad at me for not remembering their names.... Now imagine the inability to remember names, coupled with Face Blindness. Yeah, oh boy, I cant recognize someone;s face, and I cant remember their name, got me set up for a whopping terrible time making ANY friends who think I forgot "themselves" when I merely forgot their identifying features. For example, a neighbor has a dog, who wanted me to not address them as "ma'am" and did want me to remember their name and While I could remember their dog, I could never remember the lady and the face attached to this dog, every time I saw the dog, I could swear I was seeing this dog being leashed by a complete stranger every time. With enough repetition, she helped me remember her name, by repeating her name for over a minute. Oh my goodness, that repeating is exactly what I needed... only remembering her face is left to the unknown.

OMG. I knew I have this, but hearing you confirm so many of them is mind blowing. Thank you.

Ha! This one's an absolute "Hell-yes", for me. I'm a "suspected since childhood, but only recently diagnosed" (age; late thirties) Au'DHD-er (ASD+ADHD), and the number of times, growing up, that anyone speaking to me, directly, in an even mildly distracting setting (could've been, just another family-member, walking by, outside the room), ended up angry/frustrated with me, cause I'd either keep saying "Umm...sorry, what?" - to their face -, or not say it and carry on doing exactly whatever I was, before our interaction, while trying to "piece together"/guess, what exactly, they'd just said,...is uncountable, all too frequent. So I ALSO got my hearing checked as a child, and when told it was fine, all subsequent incidents passed to being automatically assumed/branded as me being deliberately obnoxious... Got me into LOTS of undue trouble; at home, school, out'n'about,...etc.!... Case in point being, that now, I'm watching this near an open window, and everytime a car or person goes by, what you're saying gets momentarily drowned out/replaced, with the sound of a car or footsteps & chatter. I can see your face keeps moving, when my ears hear "...and so, if you - Gniaoum! - that means you're - Klippy-klappy, klop-klop, yadda-yaddah -, which is why, when it happens, we - Sh-sh, sh-sh, wahen! - and this never fails to surprise people."... It's awful! I equally can't talk with anyone, while washing dishes, for example; what with the water cutting on and off, and the sound of the dishes moving, and the frothy sound of soap-foam on the sponge, and every feeble little "tink" or "klink"-sound, when placing the dishes on the drying-rack...🙉🤦🏻‍♀️ Another thing that happens for me, is that, when conversing with someone (although, it really happens with everything), I need to be fully attentive, "locked-in" on the interaction, as I practically can't process any more than a single activity/event/thing, at a time; To remain with the example of dish-washing with/near another person: I'd actually take twice as long, and end up washing up, half as well as I normally do alone, AND end up quite frustrated/nerve-wrecked/overwhelmed, from trying to conduct two, simultaneous tasks, which demand two separate modes of processing (- if that makes sense). Edit: This reminds me of a coordination-game, we'd play sometimes, as kids; wherein you tap on the top of your head with one hand, while running the other hand across your belly, in circles - at the same time. The goal was to see, who could do this, for longest (I think). I was absolutely *terrible* at it! 😂😅 Anyways; thank you for shedding light on this particular trait, and how it can affect our lives, in your usual, very personable, warm, humorous, no-bs, yet uplifting and well-articulated way. Much appreciated! (And sorry for the lengthy read; I do tend to be quite "wordy".)😬🙊😅🤓

One of my special interests is foreign languages, and even though in general I have always been very good in language learning, I have always struggled with listening, and no matter how much I practiced, my listening skills never really seemed to get better. My autism diagnosis + learning about Auditory Processing Disorder helped me accept my struggles and has probably saved me from giving up on my hobby. I'm slowly getting better at asking my teachers to write down new vocabulary to help me with my sound discrimination difficulties. From my school time I remember that at higher language learning levels listening exercises were made significantly harder by making them "more realistic" by e.g. adding background noise to two people talking. I failed at literally all of them, because how am I supposed to understand a foreign language in a situation where I wouldn't even understand my native language? If in real life I was asked to listen to two people talking in a noisy environment and afterwards answer questions on what they said, I'd either ask to hand me a transcript or something similar of the conversation, or to leave the environment and go to somewhere quiet. I hate being graded for lacking skills that I'm physically unable to acquire.

Yes, sooo relatable, almost everything! To pick out just one aspect: my learning ability. It nose-dived when I went from school to Uni. At first I couldn't explain it at all, starting to think I'd gone stupid overnight. But I now know one key factor: how things were presented. At school you learned stuff at many different (sensory) levels and you could ask questions at anytime. At uni I was then bombarded by 45 or 90 min lectures of some really complex, unfamiliar material at high speed and mostly in large, echo-ey auditoriums with sub-optimal sound systems. My head literally started to hurt about 15-20 minutes into every lecture, a feeling like my brain was about to explode. It felt impossible to ever grasp what was being presented and the horrid experience compounded my learning problem further.

that's me! what? yeah, what, no shut up I was just telling my counselor about how when I last lived in san diego, I was across the bay from seaworld, and their fireworks echoed across and sounded like bombs and always had me on edge because I'd forget about them each night until they started. finally got my noise cancellers so I'm set for tonight (4th july in ussa) after my last exam, my ear doc said I had the best hearing he'd seen all week lol oh man, so many relatable things here. my favorite is when I finally use subs or look at song lyrics, and realize I've never known what a certain word was, or misinterpreted it forever ok young Bain! hahaha man you had me rolling throughout this one. cheers, Big O!

This is so validating. I have a lot of virtual meetings with my job and they are exhausting to actually pay attention too. Now I know why! Also I realized how much I rely on lip reading when covid hit. It was infinitely harder to understand people wearing masks.

Okay, I definitly have this. Thanks, Orion to again explain me myself❤

This made so much sens and explained a lott for me. That you Orion🙂👍

The primary reason I get in trouble, and why my "bad" was never my fault... I wish my parents were alive to hear this video.

This is so me. Thank you for making me feel valued and valid 🎉

My experience is that Auditory Processing Disorder is something that can happen later in life, too. I used to be very pleased with myself because I could easily understand accents (the exception was a strong Aussie accent!), but sometimes had issues with people who talked too fast. My hearing (physically) started to deteriorate in my 50's, and my suddenly realizing that I could no longer understand the dialogue on TV programs that I formerly had no problem understanding, lead me to having my hearing tested and my learning that I have a frequency loss problem. I now have hearing aids that help a great deal, but apparently having gone over a decade with uncorrected deteriorating hearing messed up my auditory processing and I now have the auditory processing disorder you discuss here. I now have trouble with conversations and absolutely hate telephone calls unless I'm listening to someone I've known for so many years that I can interpolate what they're saying. This explains why when I studied languages (four!) I had no problem with written language but understanding spoken language was difficult.

I find, that when I’m in a noisy environment, and I’m in a conversation, I start to sounds out, or speak things I’m hearing instead of what I’m ment to be saying. I went for a routine hearing test, they did a test at the end and I failed miserably. It was a test to see how I hear in a crowded room. This was done at specsavers. Well I got my diagnosis of APD I have two sons with autism and one has adhd. I definitely think as a female, I have autism but I have hidden it well. I was told as a child that a teacher believed I needed more testing, but once my mum heard that. She pulled me from that school and never investigated it ever again. I did everything to avoid work at school not knowing what was wrong with me. My children, have the best support and care and are thriving in school and doing well

CC and noise canceling devices help a lot! Thank you, Orion.

I saw the title of your video and clicked on it because of curiosity. Heard so often people using this name APD and I wanna learn more about it. I feel like crying after watching this. You describe exactly one of my biggest struggles since I have been a kid. Always misheard people a lot what had a lot of consequences like hearing check ups at the doctor (I was not deaf and still I am not) so people assumed I am kinda dumb that I always misheard??? I was even sent to a special ed school the first years till the adults (parent, teachers, childcare worker) figured out that I am not "that dumb" (I am sorry for describing this like that it is NOT my personal opinion more like an society thing of the 90ies in a post-soviet union society) and was sent to a regular school. A lot of the people in my environment like other kids in school thought I am kinda dumb because ofc I still had the same struggles like alway. Even as an adult now I struggle a lot with all the topics u mentioned in your video. Especially I hate places with a lot of surrounding noises, it stress me out and I cannot follow conversation directed to me well. Sorry for my English (funny enough I am ok with reading but hearing is hard because of reasons you also described so well! That is why I still sometimes need subtitles even with an actually not so bad education). Struggles to understand names properly, struggles with lyrics, struggles with understanding announcements through speakers... I cannot say what is NOT fitting in my life experiences. But I wanna say thanks for your educational work it helps me lot to understand more where doctors, (childcare) educators and others went wrong that I even felt that "everything is my own fault", yeah even feeling the discomfort with some sounds and noises. Oh and ofc I am still not diagnosed because "I am not autistic enough for the diagnosis but too quirky to be normal" (Also not my own words and opinions) and so I need to learn all by myself how to live a normal life with any official support only relying on my own research and my friends. Thanks again for your great work I feel finally understood by someone...

I found myself thinking, "Yes!" to virtually everything you mentioned. To make matters worse, I developed tinnitus about 7 years ago, so now I'm permanently in a noisy environment. My wife likes to make phone calls with her cell phone in speakerphone mode. That makes things sound so distorted that they can be physically painful. And those ASMR videos that became all the rage? They are anything but relaxing; they tend to produce agitation in me. For about 15 years, one of my responsibilities at work was to do technical interviews by telephone. I had to process what they said, understand it technically, and respond with an appropriate follow up question. That was incredibly difficult. A tip: try to block other kinds of sensory input when you need to concentrate on listening to someone. For example, I have to close my eyes to make more processing power available. I've been trying to train my family to use my name (or "Dad" or "Grampa") to get my attention, and then wait for me to acknowledge them before continuing to speak. That lets me have time to reduce other sensory input, and use as much processing power as I can muster to focus on what they're saying.

Wow, so much of this rings true for me. My funniest mishearing incident was probably an ad I saw for AARP (American Association of Retired Persons - I'm Canadian, but we get US networks on TV, of course). The announcer dude said, "Come for a workshop!" and I heard "Kung fu workshop!", and I was like, "Seniors doing kung fu? Sounds cool!"

When I'm in a group and out and about, I hear all the noises at the same time. There is no picking one, unless it's louder than everything else. If I'm cooking, and I'm playing music, and I have the fan above the stove on, and my partner tries to talk to me, I have to shut everything else off in order to hear him. Too many sounds, can't hear.

This is why I prefer shows in other languages! It’s so much easier to follow the captions than try to listen to words in my own language 😅

I came across a new brain retraining technique that eye doctors are doing. They use lenses with bent light and a bell to rewire the ears and eyes together. They said a lot of people with autism and people who have had concussions ears and eyes aren't wired properly in the brain. Once they rewire them properly, it makes some of these issues better for people with Autism. It's a really new thing.

I almost skipped over this video. As it went on I found that some of these might explain some things I regularly experience. Thank you.

mainly the fatigue, because i had to mask it all for so long. since my burnout i've slowly learned to allow my kind of assertive side to take the reins too though, in order to prevent my environment from overwhelming me. it's difficult not to hurt other people's feelings that way though. healing really is messy stuff.

Be careful with the voice-to-text apps. Sometimes they “autocorrect” the way we do. 🤦🏾‍♀️ 😂 It can be helpful for others to SEE 👀 what they’re actually saying and/or how they don’t actually pronounce and/or annunciate the way they think they do though.

For me it’s definitely more noticeable when I’m trying to look someone in the eye. I’ve described it as when the adults talk in a Peanuts cartoon where they portray adult voices as just a trombone with one of those cup things over the horn making “womp womp womp” sounds instead of words. When I’m struggling to hear what someone says because I’m looking them in the eyes, I can still hear the noises coming out of their faces, but it’s like there are no words happening. When I was younger, I could often just “rewind” in my head and re-listen to what they said and then listen to the words and “hear” what they said after replaying the noises in my head, but as I’ve gotten older, I seem to have mostly lost that ability. It’s only recently after rediscovering autistic content on KZfaq that I’ve realized that the loss of that ability has also correlated to how difficult I find navigating everything else in the neurotypical world. I have a suspicion that it’s less that I’ve lost that ability rather than that I’ve lost the capacity to be able to use it at all. There have become so many other “important” demands out of my life that I can’t even begin to have those resources available to use anymore when I need them. They’re just “gone”, and when I try to bring them back and use them, I very quickly reach a conclusion that in order to be able to successfully use that skill again, I would have to give up a whole lot of other things that it’s become necessary to depend on for other, more important or crucial things.

Somethig I've started doing to help me remember names is saying the person's name once they're introduced. Instead of, "Hey, nice to meet you," I'll say, "Hey, Paul. Nice to meet you." It's not completely foolproof but saying the name seems to help me recall it, especially because I'm having to consciously prompt myself to say the person's name.

I had an eye injury and for more than a decade i could not see the center of my field of view so i had to scan words back and forth to grasp them. My brain substituted some pretty funny guesses and for a second the guess would actually appear in my brain until the correction updated it. It reminds me of how hearing words is for me.

I am hoping this is me. I really, really am. It is either this or dementia. I went to the Xmas party (yeah, I know - stupid) and we were in a bar. It was noisy to the point it felt like someone was slapping the side of my head every few seconds (genuinely, I was actually flinching), when the person sat next to me started talking. Right next to me. (I had spoken to her earlier, she was maybe a foot away from me.) I could hear the words , I just didn't know what they meant. It did come back. I mean English. That came back. I am not very good in meetings with more than four people either. Even if I can hear the words and understand them, even if there's no overlap, which yes, I also can't understand, I can't follow the conversation, because I can't remember what was said the last time they spoke, or what they were responding to. Generally, if there is any more than three people, I'm not talking and if anyone does to talk to me, it is just very embarrassing, I'm totally overwhelmed, there is almost zero chance of me providing an informative answer. I don't know what they said, I can no longer remember what I was doing earlier in the day. It is just humiliating. On the song note, there's a great song by the Ting-Tings ('That's not my name'). I own it. I've listened to it loads. It's an old song. The other day I discovered there another voice in there. The guy sings in the chorus. I had no idea. Sorry this is so long. It is just a really big thing for me.

I think this is why I can’t spell. Nothing upset me so much as “it’s spelt the way it sounds”. That phrase almost made me cry. I also am the champion of creating mondegreens (misheard lyrics or poetry), for example, Tumbling Dice… I hear “the Jews in the crowd” instead of “the jewels in the crown”. Almost everyone does that once in a while. I do it all the time.

This is a problem that I've suffered for years before my diagnosis. Split into groups for discussion, social gatherings, work instruction ... Thank you for clearing up this component of Autism that wears me down, which is why phone calls are a problem but texts/emails are preferable.

one year before i got my asd diagnosis i was diagnosed with adhd; during that year between diagnoses, i accidentally found out about apd, and all of the sudden i understood so many problems i've always had... - it was effing mindblowing! there are at least four or five things i have always had problems with, or rather i was wondering about them 1- jazz music - it takes 5-15 seconds of this garbage (pls, no offence to people who like it, it's not against you) to give me truly awful, but really truly, truuuly awful migraine... omg i hate it so much!!!! 2 - whole my life, literally since i can remember, i thought i'm just a "night owl" therefore i cant sleep at night, and i desperately want to sleep between 6-8 a.m. to 4-5 p.m.; it turned out that at night there is no annoying, overwhelming, keeping me constantly burned out - _background noise!_ at night it is so calm and comfortable... it's a huge problem for me :/ at night i can't fall asleep because i feel this weird, deep regret that i'm loosing my precious time, when i could do so, so much 3 - police/ambulance/firetruck alarm - i can never tell where the effff is it coming from!! front? behind? left/right? i always panic a little when i hear it, but after many years of driving, i have other strategies, to notice, where alarm comes from; also i have my best, fastest reflexes while driving a car (i have no idea why xp) so i pose no danger in such situation, it is just me - confused asf - every time 4 - when the background noise is too loud, like in a club or some crowded place, or earlier in school - when i was talking with somebody, i always could perfectly hear their voice, but it was impossible for me to understand the words, and let me tell you - it is effing weird every-fukcin-time; i also have some funny tricks with my hearing ;) sth similar you have, wan you way "what?" kinda unnecessarily, because of this weird delay in the brain; i have something that helps me - when i drift away with my mind, somewhere far, far away, and suddenly someone asks me about something they've just said, its like my mind records the last few seconds of sound, and i can like replay them in my head to find out what was said, and all my teachers (and other people, but mostly teachers) got really stunned or frustrated when, even though they noticed i'm clearly not listening, i practically could always answer their question and even though my auditory processing is effed up i learn quickest, easiest and fastest through hearing information; there is something weird happening in my brain, when i hear words and phrases, i immediately see them as a pictures or micro-videos with/inside my mind (i must avoid the news because of it, it doesn't matter, they're not showing some gruesome pictures of horrible things, they are describing it and those descriptions haunt me later for many days) oh, and i also cannot remember names of people; i think i've never in my life remembered immediately someone's name ps. sorry for all the grammar and other mistakes; english isn't my native language and i have dyslexia and i might probably finf some more excuses, but it's almost 5 a.m. so it's soon the sleepy time xD also i do recognize different accents, and very often it takes me a minute or five to "adjust" my brain to different accent, and the close captions must be always on, but i almost never look at them xp and sorry for no capital letters - i was just too lazy atm to press shift ;) ps2. i fukin love being autistic, even with all those weird "problems" and challenges, which contributed to my life being miserable, just because the normies couldn't understand me - i think our different brains are amazingly awesome, super extraordinary and infinitely precious and i would never, never, ever want to be not autistic+adhd

Wow, this really sheds light on my experience raising my Autistic son, as well as on my own life experience, as an undiagnosed Autistic person. I tell people constantly to text me or write out instructions for me, because I will forget their instructions within seconds after being told what to do. I am almost entirely visual and tactile in my learning style. I can hear dog whistles and invisible "fences", as well as electrified fences. The deterrent high-pitched sound literally makes me want to vomit. I get nauseated, but no one would take me seriously. My son also hated music class in elementary school and would cover his ears. He is a musician now, but he took proper music classes to get there. And, I used to have to tell him four to five times to do a task; he would "forget". It appears as though we process sound the same way. And yes, I always think people say something that is a lot funnier than what they actually said. I mishear people all the time. And, I never remember a person's name. I have to write it down and link it to something that reminds me of the person, before I can learn their name. I do great with subtitles. I do fine with accents. But, if the sound of a person's voice is too shrill or has a whiny quality, I can't interact with them. I cannot get past the sound of their voice to hear what the person is actually saying- it's too much. I used to work close to a breakroom, as well. I had to use noise-cancelling headphones, because I could not get any work done, with the jabbering voices interfering. When I was a kid, I always sat at the front of the class or the second row, because it helped me concentrate and hear the teacher. My son had to do the same thing. Taking notes was something that I learned to do in college, and it was a game changer. Now that my son is in college, I am constantly sharing my little Autistic tips, so that he can navigate his processing hurdles, as well. This post was super helpful, thanks.

YES. I take a pair of noise-canceling earbuds with me everywhere I go. You never know when you're going to go into an environment with distressing frequencies, big group conversations, or some dude that hits his consonants way too hard. Also getting startled by unexpected noises. Super relatable. They don't even have to be loud. If it's a noise I wasn't anticipating on some level, I get this little startled lurch in my stomach every time.

Accents are hard for me sometimes, but not usually because of being hard to understand - some accents just make me very fatigued to listen to for a long time. Others not at all, and it also depends on the speaker. The Australian accent, fortunately, is one of the ones that's easy for me to listen to! I also get tired VERY quickly from listening to podcasts - having video to follow along with is pretty important for me, though I *can* do audio-only if I need to, or occasionally. Even with video, I find I often have to rewind a bit very often to process what's just been said, so a video this length (just under 30 minutes) can take me more like 40-45 minutes on average to watch. As for pain from certain types of sounds, the high-pitched squeal of metal clothes hangers on a metal pole (like at a clothing store at the clothes rack) has caused me so much pain and distress that I've had to go wait in the car sometimes while my family was shopping. 😅 And one time, for a singing project, the sample song track I was sent to sing along with had all the different voice harmonies and background music included. I almost cried from shame because I had to ask for a track with JUST the sound of a single singer, with no background music, to follow along with because I literally couldn't pick out or understand the tune otherwise (for a song I had memorized!!!). Glad to know this could be auditory processing and not just me being "stupid"❤ And of course, there was the time I got a free hearing test at a local fair when I was a teen, was told I had perfect hearing and that I just needed to "pay attention better" to people speaking to me!

Remembering names, listening to audiobooks, learning a foreign language….cannot do it! Great, much needed video!!! You named it APD. In US I have had it referred to as CAPD.

Remembering names, listening to audiobooks, learning a foreign language….cannot do it! Great, much needed video!!! You named it APD. In US I have had it referred to as CAPD. Wonderful that you not only discussed APD and autism but ended the video with tips!! ❤

There is a situation where I almost always have issues with hearing : it's when someone I don't know very well talk to me about an unexpected subject. Since I am not prepared to hear certain words from a certain lexical theme, and since I don't know this person well so I don't know much about their preferred talking subjects, I often have to make them repeat several times until my brain makes sense of the sounds they are uttering to me. It can happen with people I know well too, if the subject is very unusual/random. I also use their facial or body movements as hints about what they're saying. On the phone though, it's another issue…

I grew up in an environment that was always either so quiet you could hear a pin drop or insanely loud to the point that difficulty hearing was expected. So while I had my suspicions very early on, my hearing issues were easy to brush off. When I moved into a new environment and got a job at a busy coffee shop, I thought I was going deaf! Thankfully, I improved my auditory processing a lot during my time there, but I still struggle to get some people to accomodate my auditory processing needs and cannot go into extra hard-to-hear environments like trains and airports without an aide of some sort to translate announcements for me.

Here I am❤. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, I have suffered from APD for as long as I can remember!

I enjoy your videos they are always good, even the unedited ones✌️

I have an issue with certain accents or a person with a speech impediment.I can't understand them. It is worse on the phone. It is so embarrassing.

This is such a good point. I've had bouts of feeling like my hearing was going for many years, and I often have to watch people's mouths and/or cup my ear and focus focus focus on the speaker. I was also recently exposed to extremely loud sound for an extended period a few years back and ended up with permanent tinnitus. I went to the doctor to address the tinnitus and mentioned that I have trouble hearing too. My actual loss isn't as bad as I thought! I now have hearing aids to amplify the sound AND they pump in white noise to mask my tinnitus! It's brilliant!

This was so helpful. I had no idea there’s a name for what I have been experiencing… and yes, I just thought I was broken… I now accept myself and will advocate for myself better now

Definitely relate to a lot and some I see in my fiance, we are pretty sure he’s audhd. I needed the giggles 😆thanks Orion. Liked the “stars of Orion” comment

Sitting in a car if somebody is talking in another area (front-back) than where I am, I barely can make out what they say. And even if I hear, I completly can not follow it. Meanwhile the person sit next to me easily takes part of the conversation. When I was a child oftentimes were big parties by us where lots of people sat in a big table and everybody chatted. Several conversations were flowing in the same time. I often wandered how adults do that they can make out and follow single conversations from all of that mess of sounds. I tought it is an adult thing and I will learn it. Now I am 40 and when I am in a situation like this I just hear a big cacophony. I just hear fragments of several conversations overlapping each other and can not follow a single one. My brain process all the incoming information with tha same importance. Earlier I tryed to go in clubs to hear music dance and chat with people. In places like these I can not understand a SINGLE WORD! So I stopped to go there. Of corse it creats lots of sweaty situations and anxiety and ptsd... That's the way it is. I better be alone or with my family.

I went and got my hearing checked last year because sometimes I really can't hear! And it makes conversation difficult. At first the lady was a bit up-tight, very serious faced. She said ny hearing was fine, slightly under what it should be but fine, and to get it checked every 5 or so years. Then I mentioned bumping into things all the time and she just went "Are you neurodivergent by any chace?". When I said yes her whole demeanor changed, she actually lit up. Turns out her, her husband, and their kids were all ADHD. The whole appointment ended up being an hour chat about ADHD and us both bouncing off eachother. It was so refreshing because she was the first medical/professional I was able to speak about ADHD with. I think the seriousness was just her mask :)

How my APD manifests (was born with ASD..) - let me know, if this sounds familiar: - Others speaking means I hear "blablabla" and after their sentence I need to invest energy in my brain to guess the words and guess what the sentence probably was. It took a long time to get it to over 95% matching, but takes huge amounts of energy and drains me quickly. And when drained, my accuracy drops completely. - I often don't understand people on the phone, even worse, phone conferences with some tiny speaker on the table. Had embarrasing situations when I had to lead the conference occationally, because I just couldn't understand, no matter how much I tried to.. - Used headphones and turned up the volume really loud, that way 1:1 conversations were almost perfect ! This actually saved energy, because I didn't need to guess as much. Still costs a ton more energy than NT people spend on it.. - Sometimes answering people and they get silent or withdraw - later you find out, you misunderstood and answered to something completely different and they thought, you were nuts or pychologically challenged or stupid to answer the wrong way - when really you just misinterpreted 2 or 3 words.. - When on low energy, I can't focus in meetings on what people say. It was often very important and I needed to listen, but every few seconds I lost connection and drifted, I just had no energy to stay "tuned" to what was said. (only happens on low energy). Huge impact on job and also in private ! - you sit with multiple people, all of a sudden, 2 people start a different conversation, while the person you are talking to is waiting for you to continue, but you can't, because next to you those other 2 are talking. You need to wait because you can neither speak nor focus and listen while next to you, there's another conversation.. - you enjoy a movie with a friend, the friend starts a conversation all of sudden. I tell him, TV or Talk, not both. This is actually annoying. Why watch a movie but then just talk and not understand anything at all.. !? - not sure if this is APD or just ASD, but putting in tight ear plugs to block out ALL sounds, is like a vacation. I feel so wonderful and relaxed when all noises are gone, at least for a few hours per day (if I can afford to). Anybody else ? Is this typical, or are there many more variations ?

6:11 "...sometimes the autistic brain can struggle if we can't VISUALLY SEE the person talking to us." One of the many major issues I've had (and still have) is with people wearing masks (aside from my childhood trauma regarding masks). The last few years have been an absolute nightmare for me, just like Caroline Binder describes in her comment at 20:54. Phone calls have ALWAYS been something I've avoided for that same reason. So glad to know it's because of my autism! I frequently mis-hear what my husband says -- most of the time it's extremely comical, what I thought he said. I'm constantly saying, "What?" because I really didn't hear what he said, so the poor guy has to repeat just about everything he says. He has a beautiful speaking voice but perhaps the pitch or tone is one that my ears find difficult to hear or interpret, as I don't seem to have the same issue with other people (unless their mouth is covered in fabric...). My husband's always telling me I have "amazing hearing" because I'll hear the tiniest things. The downside is that I also have misophonia -- I cannot STAND "whistling S's," smacking P's, vocal fry, upspeak, etc. Those things are literally painful for me. Going one step further, I also cannot stand to be out in public where stores are *blaring* songs -- they seem to not have access to a volume control -- and then those songs, usually 80's crap, get stuck in my head FOR WEEKS AND SOMETIMES MONTHS, 24/7. It's an absolute nightmare for me. Sometimes all it takes is a few notes of a song for it to get stuck in my head. I have a degree in classical music, so I naturally am keenly sensitive to music and sound, but the "earworms" are the absolute worst. And when I say 24/7, I mean it: I've woken in the middle of the night to find some song playing in my head, which may not even be the song that was playing on repeat when I went to bed. It's beyond maddening.

I'm forty two and literally didn't know this about myself. You rock!

I’ve got the double whammy. I’m autistic and partially deaf from a beating I got as a toddler. 🤷🏼‍♀️

As a teacher with ASD, I struggle so much to remember instructions and then meet those deadlines. Sometimes someone will mention something and I think I have heard it for the first time but they assure my they have had the conversation before! It’s the Bain of my life!!

Thank you for this video! So many of the situations discussed resonated with me. I appreciate knowing it's not just me. I almost started crying at one point because I've thought this was just me all this time.

I actually was diagnosed with this when I was a kid. Autism was not on the table for girls at the time, but this disorder was. As a kid it was described to me as, if I was in class trying to listen to the teacher, and a student next to me was making noise, I could only hear the student and not the teacher no matter how much I wanted to hear the teacher. For me it is people who have mustaches that are the worst to understand. I have times I have to ask people to look at me when they talk, and it is annoying when people move around while they are talking to me over the phone. I have learned to lip read, closed caption is constantly on, and there are times I had to memorize common talking patterns during work. I can hear sounds pretty well, but understanding what people are saying is sometimes hard, as it is just a garbled mess to my ears. There are times I was sure that I have lost my hearing, and it would have been nice if someone had told me it was the APD before now. Actually, it would have been nice if they told me anything about what they thought I had when I was a kid, but I do not think my teachers really understood it themselves, so how could they have told me.

You mean it's not "Lucy in the sky with colitis"? (TV Show, The Nanny) Bane!😂😀 Love it!😂😀 Another great video! Thank you! Take care, Orion! Thanks for the mention, it made me feel helpful.😀

I am autistic and have hyperaccusis. It is so frustrating to navigate a big group of people, even restaurants and stores.

The insights helped me cope with attending my eldest child's school speech day today. A big echoey school gym, set with stage central to a long wall, two speakers placed close by facing to each end. Was going well until we got to the mumbling teacher... could have been talking about raspberry pavlova for all I could make out. Then the speaker facing our end failed, after which our sound was primarily the echo off the far wall, so everyone sounded mumbled. The choice of musical interlude was inspired though - bagpipes. At least I can now explain by example what my common experience of sound is like to any other parent.

Very informative vid. And HOW I CACKLED when Bane suddenly appeared...

Thank you for bringing awareness to this topic! (CW: Toxic relationship) I wish I'd known about APD a few years ago when I was still in my last relationship. Back then, I was already relying on subtitles for everything, though I didn't know the underlying cause, and my ex used to make fun of me for it (the relationship was unhealthy for reasons more than one...). It's painful and infuriating to know that I was basically made fun of/not taken seriously/called a burden because of this disability. For the record, I don't think that having the correct language for it would've changed anything, as my ex also used to make fun of my PTSD symptoms even though she knew of my diagnosis, but at least I would've known that I was right to accommodate for my APD and whatever "burden" it placed on her (it was really just about looking for subtitles for movies we wanted to watch together) was solely her problem to deal with, and not mine.

Great information. Imagine how difficult it is to cope with APD with visual impairment, too. ❤

24:26 In high school, I always sat in front of the class. Easy to listen to the teacher. And the people in the back who do whatever they feel like doing are farther away and not so distracting.

Yep i absolutely dont hear/understand in noisy environments. Its not the loudness defines how bad it will be for me its more like the muffled middle tones or buzzing? makes it worse. One of the reasons why i couldn’t finish college and its really annoying in daily life if call is bad quality or have noisy background. Im completely unable to process speech in those circumstances which leads to frustration on both sides and if i try too hard to understand i will get a meltdown.

18:28 I was waiting for this one, this is something I know about myself, still learning about autism and how it does affect / has affected me, is there a connection here? Yes, there is. Thank you for sharing. The more I watch this channel, the more I feel I've found my 'in' group.

24:08 - This is probably one ofmy biggest current fights with the world... LET ME LIVE IN A QUIET APARTMENT. I need to live in a quiet apartment. The noises from outside are driving me crazy! (no joke, I been hospitalized for a mega shutdown due to dog barks)

Love this, thank you! To add on to the suggestion of noise-cancelling headphones - I'm a big fan of electronic ear muffs. Being earmuffs (PPE) they will reduce all noise and are very comfortable, but each ear cup has a microphone on the outside and speaker inside, which allows the wearer to "turn up" the volume of their surroundings if they feel the need to. Most are tuned specifically for human vocal frequencies too, which can make listening to conversation much more comfortable. They also only amplify sounds that are under ~80-85 db and turn off for anything uncomfortably loud, and the speakers are almost perfectly placed for people with auditory processing issues. I own 5 different pairs, and the model I like best is the 3M Peltor Sport Tac. They are mostly meant for shooting and hunting, but, as they are PPE, they will be a tax deduction for many occupations. They are also really rugged and tough, and will survive the most clumsy of users. Turn the electronics off if you are feeling overstimulated and need the world to be a bit quieter, or turn them up if you want to take in the natural sounds around you (you will be able to hear things you never knew were there).

"You may understand what I'm saying, you may not" - as I'm reading the closed captions on the video 🤣 I have never been able to understand verbal instructions and often need people to repeat things four or five times only to still not understand them. Some days are much worse than others. I remember I used to get hauled to the doctor for hearing tests every month as a kid and it always came back perfect! One thing I didn't realize was part of APD was my reaction to unexpected noises (I usually jump, clap my hands over my ears and start crying). I thought that was just the autism lol. Nice to see a secondary reason for it because that one is not easy to mask! Edit to add: Flare Calmers are AMAZING for helping with APD. More than anything else they seem to make my brain prioritize the sounds of human speech over background noise, and I always wear them during long meetings or when going out to eat.

Thanks for this. This is all correct. I thought it was a language barrier for ever as English is my second language but no, I ve struggled with this all my life. Ppl think I’m slow n stupid cose I mishear, mis pronounce, can’t hear.. can be very frustrating when people get upset. That encourages me to isolate and stay single as it’s all too much together with all other challenges. I’ll show this to my teen boys hopefully they’ll understand me better cose now I have proof it’s a real thing!! 😂❤ ciao Orion thanks x