ADHD & Auditory Sensitivity: 5 Misunderstood Behaviors

Ever struggle to focus in meetings or classrooms? Auditory Processing Disorder, or APD, often co-occurs with ADHD. Whether or not you have a diagnosis of APD, you may notice some symptoms. In this article, you’ll learn which auditory processing behaviors are often misunderstood and how to work effectively with them.

Symptoms

To begin, how do you know if you have symptoms of auditory processing disorder?

You might notice the following:

• difficulty learning in large classrooms
• getting easily distracted by background noise
• having trouble staying focused during long conversations
• forgetting multi-step verbal directions
• taking ineffective notes during meetings

Here are three short stories that illustrate the symptoms:

Story #1: Math Class

As a student, I worked hard and got good grades. However, I found it difficult to learn in the classroom. In fact, I hardly ever did. By the time I got to high school, I had accepted that most of my learning had to happen by myself at home. In math classes, especially, I could hear my teacher talking and it just wouldn’t click. As best I could, I would write down notes from the board, with occasional verbal phrases I remembered, and then after school I’d go home: in the evening, I would sit quietly at my desk, trying to figure out from my notes, the textbook, and practice problems what I was supposed to be doing because I hadn’t understood most of what was taught in class.

Story #2: College Essays

In my first year of college, my history professor assigned 3 major essays one semester: for each essay, I pulled near all-nighters. It wasn’t due simply to procrastination — it was also due to my sensitivity to the environment. While other students could work in the dorm or the library, I had to find silent spaces to focus on writing tasks: an empty teacher’s lounge, an unused conference room, the library basement. If I didn’t find these spaces, I would struggle to hear the thoughts in my head over other sounds in my environment: I was easily distracted by footsteps nearby, voices in the hallway, doors opening and closing. I often found it easier to work at night than during the day. If I was alone in a quiet room at night, I could talk outloud to hear what my writing sounded like, and I could usually finish getting my thoughts onto paper. (Yes, in fact, that’s what I am doing right now: talking to myself alone in a room as I write this article.)

Story #3: Teaching

As an adult, I worked as a public school teacher. At first, I taught in a classroom, where I quickly became overwhelmed. I was surprised to realize I had been an unusual child: I could sit quietly observing a room and enjoy it. As a teacher, however, I found out that most of my students were not like me: any moment of unstructured silence was not an opportunity to observe quietly — it was an opportunity to create noisy chaos.

After leaving the classroom, I began teaching students 1:1. After a few years, I found that I was getting more and more referrals to tutor students with APD and ADHD. It felt like a natural fit. We noticed the same things: if someone joked in the hall, we both laughed. If a bird tweeted outside, we both paused. When we heard the right footsteps approach, we both knew, wordlessly, that meant mom was waiting in the lobby and it was time to pack up. Instead of focusing purely on academic content in the mind, we were also highly attuned to the present environment. Sometimes, in our sessions, my students apologized for “getting distracted,” but I didn’t see it that way: I had always noticed these so-called background sounds, and it was easier to work with someone who noticed them too.

Misunderstood Behaviors

If you relate to the stories above, you may have difficulty relating with people who don’t experience sounds in the same way. They may make assumptions that misinterpret your behaviors.

1. ADHD is not a problem with hearing. People with ADHD or APD don’t have a problem with hearing. In fact, they usually have normal — or even better than normal — hearing abilities. Often, the difficulty comes from hearing so many sounds that other people don’t even notice. As I write this article, for example, I hear the pilot light of my heater, the creaking of the floorboards, the buzz of my neighbor’s fan, the chitchat of people on the sidewalk, the clicking of my keyboard, and the thoughts in my head which I’m writing on this page. People without ADHD often filter out these types of sounds in their environment.
2. People with ADHD aren’t ignoring you. Imagine listening to symphony played by an orchestra with 100 musicians. When most people listen to music, they can usually tune into different parts, such as the melody or the bass. However, when you’re hearing all these inputs, it can be hard to focus on just one musician. Similarly, if you’re talking to someone with ADHD, your voice may be hard to process amid background noise. To get their attention, considering providing a visual or getting eye contact first. For example, if my sister walks into my line of sight and says “Christina,” it will be easier for me to tune into her frequency and then understand the rest of her sentence.
3. It’s not rude or defiant. A person with ADHD might be seen as rude or defiant if they aren’t answering right away. For example, it may be confusing to a parent when their child hears a question about ice cream perfectly fine but then doesn’t reply to a request to clean their room. However, just because someone doesn’t answer right away doesn’t mean they are trying to be rude. They might be noticing something you can’t hear, or they haven’t processed what you said. If you quickly get angry or frustrated, that won’t help. Instead, try listening. Patiently observe the child, see what they are looking at, try to hear what’s going around them, get into their line of sight. Once you’re truly part of the child’s environment, it can be easier find a space to speak up, so the child will see and hear you.
4. It can be easy to misinterpret tone. For months, I had a friend who thought I was always being sarcastic. I had a family member who thought I was upset with them. Neither of these things are true. Usually, I am relaxed, happy, and literal. People will project their emotions onto my neutral expression. From their own lens, they may misinterpret what the pitch of my voice means. Although I can’t control what others think, I’ve found it helps to speak up. For example, I might say “I’m pausing not because I’m upset but because I’m trying to listen. Can we step into a quieter room?” Or “I care about what you’re saying, but I don’t understand it yet. Can you show me a visual?”
5. Forgetfulness isn’t a bad thing. People with ADHD often live in the present. One way to think about what it means to be forgetful is that you’ve let go of the past and you’re open to new information. Saying “I forgot” means “I don’t know right now.” That doesn’t mean you can’t figure it out. When I tutor students with ADHD, sometimes all they need is a moment of silence. Often it’s less than 1 second and the forgotten idea comes back into their minds. At times, a quick drawing, a simple phrase, or a short question will help, too.

Conclusion

If you have ADHD, APD, or auditory sensitivity, you might process sounds in a unique way. You might get easily distracted by your environment and have trouble understanding people who talk in long sentences, without visuals or pausing. People may assume you’re ignoring them, being rude, or in a bad mood when they simply misinterpret your behaviors. Receiving visuals, speaking slowly, and speaking up can provide clarity to improve communication.

Ultimately, though, my favorite shortcut for working with auditory processing differences is much simpler: listening — by pausing with myself and leaning into the unknown, I remember the art of being human.