03 April 2012

The trouble with audio

All Things Azeroth is always advertising for the website audible. My initial reaction was excitement - books! I love books! Me and books, we're tight like sisters. Then I realized that since I have serious trouble concentrating on audio, it would be entirely wasted on me.

I'm not entirely sure what the problem is. I do have some problems hearing purely on the volume level, but more often I find that even if I can hear the sound, I have trouble understanding the meaning. The yearly work health check says my hearing is just fine, so it must just be a part of my brain that says "Yeah that sound, I don't think I'll pay attention to it."

In person, I will watch a person's mouth if I'm having trouble understanding. I can't actually read lips, but making myself focus on the source of the sound makes it easier to concentrate on it. When it comes to audio-only conversations, I basically have to stop everything I'm doing to be able to participate. WoW podcasters often mention that they are playing WoW while recording, but for me that would be disastrous! The few podcasts I have participated in have been in complete isolation, with DND on all my chat programs and WoW turned off.

Passive listening, like podcasts, requires slightly less effort. I can do mindless activities like cleaning up, cooking, or farming while focusing on a prerecorded conversation. (To this day, going to Burning Steppes makes me think of Girls Gone WoW.) My biggest bane is vent, which is such a bummer! Using vent for raids has become increasingly hard for me. When the RL starts to helpfully explain the strat, my brain tunes right out. If I didn't read strats or have experience with the fights, I would be completely screwed! When healing assignments are given out, I always ask for confirmation in the healer channel. It's kind of a running gag that I frequently tab out to check facebook. I do sometimes tab out, usually to check my feedreader during breaks, but my flighty impression comes mostly from the fact that my pathetic ears betraaaaay meeee! The longer a day I've had, the harder it is to buckle down and focus on aural input.

During a boss fight is just fine, because I'm concentrating so hard on the fight. Taking verbal cues like "brez Spanky" or "green platform next" fits right in with reacting to the trumpets and gongs of DBM. But as soon as the fight ends (or I die...) my brain goes right back to la la land!

Have you ever had trouble focusing on audio? What do you do to help yourself pay attention? What are things that help you focus in general?

8 comments:

  1. I have a very similar issue with tactics, especially if the raid leader gets distracted with minutae or things that aren't necessarily relevant for me.

    I actually listen to audiobooks a lot when I'm really tired and trying to go to sleep anyways. I use the audible app on my phone and set it to 'sleep' after 30 minutes. I can absorb a lot of a book that way.

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    1. Ditto on the detailed explanations. If it's one or two lines "healers, you gotta watch the tank during X and gtfo the fire during Y" then I'm set, but once it gets into "because the DPS will be doing A while the tanks perform ritual B" I stop listening for relevant information.

      Do you remember what you hear when you're falling asleep? I'm a very light sleeper so I usually can't even listen to music to sleep because it keeps me awake instead!

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  2. Thank goodness, I thought everyone else managed to concentrate! I always tab out to check things like Twitter while the DPS sort their plans, and miss the entire raid strat. The RL is in the same room as me so I can always check quick but I know he'd prefer if I just listened.

    Yesterday I was running some heroics with friends on Mumble and I kept zoning out on them >.> so if I can't maintain concentration for fun conversations it'd explain why I struggle with dry raid strats...glad to know I'm not alone!

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    1. It's not just you!! I can't even enjoy relax-time with guildies on Vent because while they happily chatter away my brain goes somewhere else and I miss the entire conversation. I need to be either grounded by the physical presence of the speaker, or free of ALL OTHER DISTRACTIONS in order to listen properly. Get it together, brain!!

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  3. I'm the opposite - I've been running an add-on that plays ascending notes of music as Holy Power builds and then a concluding 3-note sequence when it's depleted, and when I play without it I feel absolutely handicapped.

    My brain is so tied in to that sound to cue me as to where my resources are that I just can't play without it.

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  4. Why do you bother brezing Spanky? It's not like he's any help. :p

    Also, I just realised I'm in your banner! That's me, on the yellow bug! Ah, memories.

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    1. He's too cute not to brez!! And yes you are :D That was a fun time indeed :)

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  5. I too have trouble multi-tasking if it includes listening to spoken word and doing a manual task.

    I can't play games and listen to podcasts let alone something like a audio book. All my podcast listening is done either driving to work or while resting.

    As for raid leader instructions, I don't have the same issue right now as I am that man! Although in teh past I also just listened for my personal instruction (heal X yadda yadda) but had always done my homework anyways so I knew as much about a fight as you can without actually taking part.

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