BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Deafness Can You Hear in Crowds?

In the UK, problems with hearing in noisy situations is called 'THE COCKTAIL PARTY EFFECT'. If you have normal hearing, you start experiencing this from about 25 years of age!

If you have NORMAL hearing, a tip that works is to put your finger (or an earplug) in one ear when talking to someone in a crowd. It works by blocking sounds coming in from different directions and improves speech discrimination. A fascinating topic!

That's interesting Joy. I know I found it easier to communicate in noisy situations than my friends with normal hearing because I could lip read.