How to get better at hearing what people are saying in noisy environments? I'm 22, my hearing is good, I've had it tested. In fact, I'd argue that it's better than average. I'm the kind of person who has to unplug their laptop at night because I can hear it charging. But when I'm hanging out with others, which typically happens in places where there is some level of background noise, like music and/or other people talking, a TV that's turned on, sounds of cutlery and people eating at a restaurant, cars on a busy road, etc., it's like everything just turns into a mush of human noises. I hear people speaking but the words don't register, like they're speaking a foreign language, if that makes sense. This makes things really awkward as I either a) have to ask people multiple times to repeat themselves, or b) stay quiet because I have no idea where the conversation is going, as I only understand fragments of it. It's honestly kind of embarrassing. If I focus really hard and look at people's lips while they're talking it helps to fill in the gaps, but that's quite mentally demanding and I quickly get too tired to put in all that effort. Also, if there's multiple people speaking, I can't look at them at the same time. Is this a skill that can be learned and if so how do I go about it? This is something that has always made me really self-conscious, even when I was younger, and anxious in social settings.