(Unrelatedly, either he needs his hearing checked or I talk like I have a mouth full of taffy, because the following conversation [or similar ones] happen in our house about 5 times a day

Ha! It is the opposite in my house. I'm the deaf one and he's the mumbler! (He actually is mumbly sometimes, it's not just my poor hearing...which I blame on too many shows spent in front of speakers with no earplugs).

Hubby thought he was deaf in one ear, but it turns out he's got the hearing of someone half his age--who isn't a roadie for the Who, that is--but his brain has trouble processing auditory signals. So he's great at saying "Yes, I hear that tone. and that tone, too." Sounds with information, though, mess him up. My poor, mutant husband.

Smonster, insent.

Connie, how did he discover that?

Strength to you and your family, Trudy.

Teppy - it may be more a part of his ADD than his hearing. I know when I'm concentrating hard on something and working to block out other stimuli, when CJ says something without getting my attention first I do the blink, blink, "What???" thing. Usually during the blink, blink stage I'm trying to run the audio in my head backward to see if I can figure out what he said. Even when I'm trying to focus on one thing, I hear everything. At least I think that is what happens with me. YADDMV

~ma for your step mother and for your whole family, Trudy.

Hand to god. I feel like a tourist in Indonesia or something. I end up pointing and gesturing and yelling the key word at him. The first few times, I thought it was me, mumbling like I just ate a mouthful of something. But it happens every damn day, so now I'ma blame him. I keep suggesting he get his hearing checked.)

This may be a focus/attention thing. If I am reading hard or otherwise mentally occupied when Daniel starts saying it can take me a couple of sentences to process that the comments are being specifically addressed to me and that a response is going to be required and then disengage my mind from what I was doing to refocus on what he is saying. I usually try to say, "Sorry, I didn't catch the first part of what you just said, could you please repeat it." I have also encouraged him to ask me to stop and listen to him before he gets into the meat of what he has to say, and wait for me to acknowledge that I am listening.

Suzi and Windsparrow are me.

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss, Erika, and ~ma to your stepmom and family, Trudy.

erika, I'm so sorry. She was a wonderful dog.

Trudy, I hope everything is okay.

Guess who thought she had lost her iPod? Because my week hasn't been stressful enough, or something. (It had fallen out of my bookbag and was in the boot of the car.)

Connie, how did he discover that?

I don't remember why he decided to get his hearing tested (he has so many tests I've lost track) but we went to a specialized testing room with no echoes to test how his ears worked, and that came up nearly perfect while they had electrodes checking his brain. The numbers didn't line up. There is some physical damage due to a few busted ear drums frm when he was a fireman, but the primary problem is processing. They're not sure if it's damage, genetic, or a side effect of the ridiculous amount of drugs he's taken over the years.