Whether it’s the echo of beeping tills in a supermarket or the hissing of a coffee machine in your local café, the brain is constantly working to decode hundreds of noises each day. But for some, those background noises can become so overwhelming that they distract them from recognising voices or alerts. This is the reality for Sophie, a 25-year-old administration assistant from London, who is used to being told she doesn’t listen, zones out, or is “a bit ditsy”.
After a hearing test came back normal, Sophie met a private audiologist for further testing. She was eventually diagnosed with auditory processing disorder (APD), a neurological condition where the brain finds it difficult to understand sounds and spoken words.
Having grown up on a peaceful farm in the countryside, it wasn’t until a few years ago when Sophie started university in London that she noticed a change in her hearing – specifically trouble identifying where a sound was coming from.
All the words sounded like gibberish when she was in the actual lecture, and she was trying to hear, and it affected her social life too, and Sophie would leave bars and restaurants early because of the “overwhelming noise”.
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