Tips When Talking With Someone Who Has Auditory Processing Issues!

Tips when talking with someone who has auditory processing issues!

(Brought to you by someone with auditory processing issues because the thought of making this post popped into my head and now I can’t fall asleep! Be aware these may not apply to everyone and are just things that I find helpful or would like people to be considerate of with me)

First and foremost! PLEASE be patient with us. I know it can be annoying having to repeat yourself multiple times but we literally can’t help it. Sometimes someone says something to me and it literally sounds like another language. I promise it is just as frustrating for us as it is for you.

Things to do if we ask you to repeat yourself:

Speak slightly slower

Annunciate your words a little more

Most of the time this is all I need to be able to process something I couldn’t before. My issues are often that the person was speaking too quickly or slurring words together, both of which make my native language sound like a different language to me.

Things not to do if we ask you to repeat yourself:

Say the same thing at the exact same speed (doing this is just going to cause me to not process it again and have to ask for it to be repeated again, causing lots of frustration on both sides)

Say the same thing but louder (this might be different for other people, but for me this does not help. I can hear you just fine. Hearing you is not the problem)

Repeat it like you’re talking to a child that doesn’t understand you. (Yes, people do this. Yes, it always ends up being condescending and rude. This is often done by drastically slowing down what you’re saying, saying it louder, and drastically over annunciating. I stated earlier that what helps is speaking slightly slower and annunciating a little more, and those are the key words: slightly, and a little. You don’t need to talk to us like we’re children that don’t understand you. (Plus you really shouldn’t talk to kids like that either))

This one goes along with number 3: Dumbing it down. You don’t need to change what you’re saying! It’s not that you’re saying something too complicated for us to understand, we literally just are not processing the words you are saying as actual words. Again, you don’t need to speak to us like children and change what you said to be easier to understand. You just need to speak more clearly. This one is also always rude and condescending.

If we ask you to repeat yourself, please repeat the whole sentence and sometimes even a sentence or two before that as well. Don’t just assume that we only didn’t process the last half of the sentence or the last word. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve asked someone to repeat and they just give me the very last thing they said. E.g.: what I heard “shkhdtivc arthzjk after styjkufbjjssfjjcsukg house?”, I ask them to repeat. What they repeat “at my house?” What they needed to repeat “Do you want to hang out after school at my house?”

If you ask us something and we say “huh?” or “what?” so you start to repeat yourself but then we cut you off with the answer before you’ve finished repeating yourself, please don’t get upset. We’re not trying to be rude or ask you to repeat yourself for no reason, or cut you off for fun! Sometimes we just needed an extra second or two to process what you said before responding and didn’t actually need you to repeat it, though we’re very grateful that you were willing to repeat it for us. And sometimes we did need you to repeat it, but had only not processed one of the words and as soon as you said that word we were able to understand and respond.

Please don’t give up and say never mind! It can be very frustrating for us when we just needed it repeated once more, but you give up on the entire conversation instead.

Some helpful tips for the people with auditory processing issues!

Instead of asking “what?”, “huh?”, or “can you repeat that?” when I don’t process something, I instead get more specific and ask things like “sorry, could you repeat that a little slower?”. I find that asking them to specifically repeat it in the way you need can help a lot and leads to not having to ask them to repeat it multiple times.

This also applies to asking what you specifically need repeated, like “could you repeat the beginning of that sentence?” or “could you go back a few sentences?” or sometimes I’ll even repeat what I heard back to them and leave it open for them to repeat the word I didn’t process like “sorry, I only caught: do you want to…” and most of the time I’m met with a response similar to “oh! Sorry! Go to the mall?”

With people that I am close to that are aware of my auditory processing issues, I tend to say things like “I didn’t process that” or “my brain isn’t working” because they no longer need more specific instructions and know to repeat it a bit slower and more clearly when I say that. (Though oftentimes I do still need to specify just how much I didn’t process, like if they need to repeat the last couple sentences they said or just a word)

That’s all I can think of for now, but feel free to add on what helps you or if you have anything you want clarified!