Hard to hear in a restaurant, but fine in quiet: what do you do about it?

How does it feel day to day?

People describe it in similar ways:

• "I hear that people are talking, but I do not understand the words."
• "At the family meal I nod, and I do not really know what they are talking about."
• "At home, with one person, there is no problem at all."
• "At the end of an evening in a restaurant I am tired from the effort of listening."

If this sounds familiar, you are not the only one. In a noisy place there are many voices at the same time, and the task for the ear and the brain is harder than in quiet.

Why does it not show up in quiet?

In quiet, one person's speech arrives clearly. In noise, you need to separate the voice you want to hear from everything else. According to ASHA, the American professional association for hearing, speech and language, understanding speech is a complex process that combines hearing, thinking and language mechanisms. Difficulty understanding speech in noise can be related to hearing itself, and also to other factors, such as the way the brain processes what is heard. The USPSTF, the US Preventive Services Task Force, also notes that the result of a tone test does not always match the difficulty people feel. Only a test with a professional can begin to tell the possibilities apart.

So a test that checks only short tones in a quiet room does not always tell the whole story. The World Health Organization built the hearWHO app on the digits-in-noise method, to test understanding and not only hearing a tone.

How does the self-check look at this?

The G-Sound self-check has three parts:

1. The NIDCD questionnaire. One of the ten questions asks whether a hearing problem makes things hard for you in a restaurant with relatives or friends.
2. Tones for each ear. Whether you heard short tones, and at what relative loudness.
3. Digits in noise. You hear three digits against noise that gets stronger when you answer correctly and weaker when you make a mistake.

If the summary says "You understood digits in quiet, but it was harder for you when the noise got stronger", that is exactly the situation this article describes. Full explanation of the method: The digits-in-noise test.

What the online test does not do

• It does not explain why noise is hard for you. It only signals that it happens.
• It does not measure hearing thresholds and does not give an audiogram.
• It does not determine whether there is hearing loss or whether a hearing aid suits you.
• It does not reproduce a real restaurant. The noise in the test is processed noise, and the headphones are not calibrated.
• It is not suitable for an urgent situation: sudden hearing loss, ear pain or discharge from the ear are reasons to see a doctor the same day.

What you can do now, until the test

These are simple habits you can try in a conversation in a noisy place. They are not a treatment, and do not replace a test:

• Sit with your back to the wall, away from the kitchen and the speakers.
• Choose quieter hours, or a quiet corner.
• Sit facing whoever is speaking, so their face is lit.
• Ask your relatives to speak one at a time, without raising their voices.

When to get tested

• The self-check signalled difficulty in noise, or you answered "yes" to 3 or more questions in the questionnaire. According to NIDCD, that is the time to consider a hearing test.
• The self-check came out well, but the difficulty in restaurants continues. Your own sense matters just as much as the self-check.
• Family members remark that you do not answer, or ask you to turn the TV down.

At G-Sound the full test is carried out by a G-Sound technician with an audiogram, by appointment and nationwide, also at home. Beyond tones, it also includes a test of speech understanding (discrimination), and that is exactly the place to talk about the difficulty in restaurants.

More on this topic

• To the self-check (in Hebrew)
• The digits-in-noise test
• Hearing aids in group conversations (in Hebrew)
• Noisy places
• Home hearing test
• Private hearing test (in Hebrew)

The self-check, and after it the full test. Including a digits-in-noise step: to the self-check (in Hebrew). For a full test with an audiogram, also at home: call 055-3333338 or WhatsApp.

Sources

• NIDCD, "Do You Need A Hearing Test?" (bookmark, March 2016) · checked 03.11.2026
• WHO, hearWHO · checked 03.11.2026
• De Sousa et al., "Improving Sensitivity of the Digits-In-Noise Test Using Antiphasic Stimuli", Ear and Hearing 41(2):442–450, 2020 · checked 03.11.2026
• ASHA Practice Portal, Central Auditory Processing Disorder · checked 03.11.2026
• USPSTF, "Hearing Loss in Older Adults: Screening" (23.03.2021) · checked 03.11.2026

English version: 4 November 2026 · Written by the G-Sound editorial team. Original version updated 03.11.2026. The information is general and does not replace a check-up or medical advice.

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