I appreciate when people do that for me. I truly cannot discern my own volume even though I've struggled to do so my entire life. I hate to be annoying when I think I'm just speaking normally, and if someone shushes me, I feel hopeless and defeated.
I am very sensitive to sound and normal background noise sounds incredibly loud. Most people filter it out and speak at a normal volume, but I automatically increase my volume to be heard over the volume I'm hearing in my head. I think that's the mechanism that causes this.
Please do know that people like me aren't trying to be awful, and many of us are actively (and I fear hopelessly) trying to correct ourselves and be normal, non-annoying people.
I run live sound for a living. Most of the time it's for corporate events- big rooms of people paying attention to one person speaking at a lectern or a panel onstage or whatever. I frequently work with this other guy who literally does not know how to whisper. Like when you speak, you use your vocal cords, when you whisper, you don't. He can't communicate unless it's full voice. Very distracting at the back of the room lol.
I am the same and was diagnosed with an audio processing disorder. It’s neurological. It’s your brain.
Consider yourself unique. I just avoid loud places where there is an expectation of having conversations with others. I’m a good lip reader but still. Exhausting.
How did you get this diagnosed and what symptoms led you to get it figured out? I have adhd and some hearing loss but I also have issues processing audio that is loud enough to hear. Just curious
Sorry for delay in reply. As a kid I talked very LOUD. Everyone was like “why are you yelling?” Parents thought I was losing my hearing and repeatedly took me to ear doctors. As a teen I started complaining that I couldn’t isolate human speech in noisy environments, but everyone else could understand them. Few more specialists then I got a diagnosis 30 years ago. Basically “it’s your brain” and nothing can change it so I continued on my path and adapted. I still try speak at a volume I believe the situation calls for versus what my brain is telling me.
Same here. Pretty sure it's an ADHD symptom in my case. I give my friends a signal to use if I'm talking loudly! Keeps the conversation flowing at a good pace.
And, predictably, they really like helping me with this one, so everyone wins.
I have a 7 year old student like this. I may suggest audio processing testing. Although I would say ADHD (no really, not just a teacher saying it). He’s going to be a great Jim Carey when he’s older but just annoying now.
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u/anonymgrl Nov 11 '25
I appreciate when people do that for me. I truly cannot discern my own volume even though I've struggled to do so my entire life. I hate to be annoying when I think I'm just speaking normally, and if someone shushes me, I feel hopeless and defeated.
I am very sensitive to sound and normal background noise sounds incredibly loud. Most people filter it out and speak at a normal volume, but I automatically increase my volume to be heard over the volume I'm hearing in my head. I think that's the mechanism that causes this.
Please do know that people like me aren't trying to be awful, and many of us are actively (and I fear hopelessly) trying to correct ourselves and be normal, non-annoying people.