You asked for help with one simple task: take out the trash. But, unfortunately, it never was accomplished. “I Didn’t hear you”, they say. Why are you not surprised that your partner failed to hear the one thing they wanted done? This “selective hearing” is a common sign that communication is failing.
We tend to think of selective hearing as a negative, kind of like it’s a character flaw. It’s as if you’re accusing somebody of intentionally not listening. But selective hearing might actually be connected to untreated hearing loss instead of a short attention span.
What is selective hearing?
You’ve probably had at least one or more situations in your life where somebody has accused you of not listening, even if no one specifically used the phrase “selective hearing”. When you miss all the things you don’t want to hear but hear everything else, that’s selective hearing. You hear the part about the chocolate cake, but you miss the part about the calories. That sort of thing.
It’s extremely common for people to have selective hearing behavior. But this behavior is more prevalent in men than women, according to some studies.
How individuals are socialized does provide some context and it might be tempting to make some assumptions from this. But the other part of the situation might have something to do with hearing health. If your “selective hearing” starts to become more common, it might be an indication that you may have undiagnosed hearing loss.
Hearing loss can produce gaps in communication
Communication will definitely be harder with undiagnosed hearing loss. That’s probably not that shocking.
But one prominent sign of hearing loss is communication issues.
When hearing loss is in those very early phases, there aren’t going to be very many noticeable symptoms. Your tv might get a bit louder. When go out to your local haunt, you have a difficult time hearing conversations. It’s most likely because the music is so loud, right? But besides scenarios like that, you might never even notice how loud day-to-day sounds can be. Your hearing can slowly deteriorate because of this. You scarcely notice the problem until you’re at the point where you often have trouble hearing conversations.
Your partner is becoming worried about the health of your hearing
You will notice some of the people in your life are starting to be concerned. Your family and friends will likely be irritated when they think you’re intentionally ignoring what they say. But as it happens more and more often, irritation might turn to worry.
So, your partner might suggest you schedule a hearing test to determine if something is wrong.
It’s significant to pay attention to your partner’s concerns. Talk openly with them and welcome their help because they care about your well-being and aren’t just annoyed with you.
Other early indications of hearing loss
You should watch out for some of the other early warning signs of hearing loss if your selective hearing seems to be getting worse. A few of those signs include:
- Hearing in crowds is challenging
- Having to ask people to speak up or slow down
- Turning the volume up on your mobile phone, television, or radio
- People sound distant or muffled when they talk
- Consonants are hard to make out
You should contact us for a hearing exam if you have any of these symptoms.
Always safeguard your hearing
Protecting your hearing is so critical to preventing hearing loss. Reduce your exposure to noisy environments (or at least wear earmuffs or earplugs when you must be around noise). Any feathers that you might have ruffled with your selective hearing can be smoothed over by using hearing aids to communicate more effectively.
In most cases throughout your life, selective hearing is going to be an artifact of a diminishing attention span. But when you (or someone around you) notices your selective hearing becoming worse, you might want to take that as a sign that it’s time to get your hearing assessed.
