This is my vaguely annual post to remind people that I have Auditory Processing Disorder. It’s the hearing equivalent of dyslexia in that I have a hard time turning sounds into words. This gets especially true in a noisy environment. Yeah, I know, you have the same thing. Mine is… well, very likely a lot worse than you can imagine. In a noisy environment, I’m functionally deaf, while everyone else around me is still talking, making the very noise that’s keeping me from understanding the person right in front of me.

I wrote about this at length last year. I don’t really have much to add apart from the fact that it has gotten worse since them. Meh, such is life. Other things make me happy, so cancel the pity party.

Anyway, I did recently come across this video. Its original purpose was to demonstrate to English speakers what English sounds like to people who don’t speak English. That is, it has the same accent, the same distribution of phonemes, etc., but it’s all gibberish. Well, when I get into a loud environment like a crowded restaurant, a lively party, or heaven-help-me a stadium, this is maddeningly like what people sound like to me.

(The actual dialog starts around 0:30.)

So, when you see me trying to read your lips at a social function, bear in mind that you might be sounding like these people to me.