The only one thing that you asked for was for the garbage to be taken out. 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 needed done? This “selective hearing” is a normal indication that communication is failing.
We tend to view selective hearing as a negative, sort of like it’s a character defect. It’s as if you’re accusing someone of purposely not listening. But it’s possible that the real culprit behind your selective hearing might not be a short attention span, it might be the early stages of hearing loss.
Selective hearing – what is it?
You’ve probably had at least one or more scenarios 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 stuff you don’t want to hear but hear everything else, that’s selective hearing. You hear the part about cooking a delicious meal but miss the part about cleaning up the dishes. Things like that.
As a behavior, selective hearing is very common. But this behavior is more prevalent in men than women, according to some research.
How individuals are socialized does offer some context and it might be tempting to make some assumptions from this. But hearing health is probably another major aspect. 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 undoubtedly be more difficult with undiagnosed hearing loss. You’re likely not surprised by that.
But here’s the thing: oftentimes, communication problems are a sign of hearing loss.
Symptoms can be really hard to detect when hearing loss is in the early stages. Your tv may get a little 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 situations like that, you might never even notice how loud day-to-day sounds can be. This lets your hearing slowly (but surely) diminish. You barely notice the problem until you’re at the point where you frequently have trouble hearing conversations.
Your hearing health is worrying your partner
You will notice some of the people in your life are beginning to worry. Yes, selective hearing is a fairly common aggravation (even more frustrating when you already feel like no one listens to you). But that frustration often becomes worry when they acknowledge that hearing loss might be the actual culprit.
And your partner may want you to find out what’s going on by having you schedule a hearing test.
Your partner’s concern is significant and it’s essential for you to recognize that. Talk openly with them and accept their help because they care about your well-being and aren’t simply irritated 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. Here are a few of those signs:
- Speech sounds distant or muffled
- Cranking up the volume on your devices
- Hearing in crowds is difficult
- Having a hard time making out consonants
- Requesting that people speak slower and talk louder
You should contact us for a hearing test if you have any of these symptoms.
Always protect your hearing
It’s critical that you take measures to safeguard your ears in order to prevent hearing loss. Limit your exposure to loud environments (or at least wear earmuffs or earplugs when you have to be around noise). Any feathers that you may have ruffled with your selective hearing can be smoothed over by wearing hearing aids to communicate more successfully.
In most circumstances throughout your life, selective hearing is going to be an artifact of a waning attention span. But you may want to take it as an indication that it’s time for a hearing test when people around you start to notice your selective hearing getting worse.
