I'm low vision and a grad student who studies perception.

If you're speaking to someone in a context where there is a lot of background conversation, being able to see the speaker's mouth helps to add visual information cues. For example, lip and tongue placement can disambiguate what is being said, or mouth movements may help identify who is doing the saying (sound localization). So, a low vision or blind person may not have these additional cues if the auditory information is somewhat ambiguous. I don't think I've personally experienced better hearing, but maybe someone else can speak to this.

That being said, one context where being low vision or blind can actually be helpful is when listening to a speaker explain something complex. Usually sighted people, when thinking about or hearing about complex things, will direct their gaze to simpler stimuli (e.g., a white wall). But a blind person should have less interference from those other senses.

I find recognizing voices in a loud environment is the problem. When it's already loud, and someone is raising there voice to be heard, I sometimes just don't recognize them at all, when I otherwise would. When the environment is crowded, it can also become impossible to tell if someone is addressing me, or a person near me. However, once I've realized someone is talking to me, and I've recognized who they are, I don't find following the conversation difficult.

It might be that I stood too close to too many speakers at punk rock shows, but nowadays when I go to a bar or a concert or somewhere with loud music like that, it's pretty much impossible for me to hear the people I'm with, the bartender asking me what I want, etc. I feel like I'm just yelling in everyone's face. Usually, when I need to have a conversation, I'll step outside under the pretense of grabbing a smoke or something. It has made social events a bit difficult. Anyone else having issues with this? I'm also total, btw

That's so true for me!
When I wasn't blind it was much easier.
It confused the hell out of me tho because I thought... Wasn't my hearing supposed to get better?

Totally blind from birth.

I don't find that its hard. I find that if someone is talking to me, i can, most times, hear them fine, reguardless of what is going on around me. Sure, i might also be hearing a few other conversations, but its easy to pick voices out.

I experience something like this, yeah. I think it might be heightened vulnerability to sensory overload? This reminds me of one time, at band camp, when percussion was practicing in an exceptionally echoey chapel room. I was on orchestra bells, and could not hear anything I was doing. Like, more so than any other environment we played in. It might as well have been the heart of a thunderstorm.

I don't know how much my blindness is part of this, though. I went to an NFB National Convention, once, and it was *awful*. The big, tile-floored rotunda areas were sufficiently stressful that I made a point of trying to get past them long before anything opened, just to avoid the crowds. I wanted to spend more time in the Exhibit Hall, because it's not like there's a Wal-mart for blind people products, but the crowds were just *too much*. That scene in the 2003 *Daredevil* film, where he talks about how the rain gives him better feedback than usual? My experience is the opposite, other than extremely perfect situations (ex, the rain is very light. Also if I'm under an umbrella, that makes the sound worse.).

While blindness might contribute to this sort of thing, I get the impression that one has to already have some other traits that lend themselves toward being overwhelmed this way. I mean, there were over 3,000 blind people at that convention, so clearly it wasn't torture for all of them.

I just realized that none of the examples I gave are specifically what you asked about. I *have* had that sort of thing—not being able to easily focus on an individual in a crowded or noisy environment—from time to time; it's just that none of the examples really stick out as well as the above. I kinda feel like there examples of a more generalized tendency.

I have low vision and I don't think I really get distracted in crowded areas at all, my hearing though has improved, so I can hear someones phone ringing or even vibrating while everyone is talking. So I usually just say "hey a phone is ringing" but I heard this doesn't happen to everyone.