I'm worried. I've noticed this for years but only now am I telling people about it.

[cjemc]

In work and at home people say things to me either close up or far away and
I hear them saying something but it sounds like a muffle and a mish mash of vocabulary.

I can't understand what they are saying sometimes. I try to pay attention and I ask them to repeat.

Is this anxiety related or am I going deaf now on top of everything or am I some sort of maniac lunatic fringe???????

[Rennie1989]

I used to get that a lot, it's like what they're saying, which was in plain English, sounded completely foreign. However, I noticed that this stopped once my anxiety started to lift. I did used to have a speech impediment as a child and I used to struggle to understand instructions.

What ever a maniac lunatic fringe is, you're not going mad. You could have some hearing difficulties and sometimes it's no harm to get your hearing tested (we get our eyes tested regularly, why not our ears too?) and if your hearing is fine then it's down to anxiety.

[artist12]

I have noticed problems comprehending when my anxiety levels are really high.

When I'm in panic mode, I have trouble reading - I reread lines and they still don't stick. Or when I'm typing, I write words that sound similar but are totally not what I meant to type. I attribute it to my brain not being able to focus because I'm freaking out!

A hearing test wouldn't be bad, but like Rennie said, if that came back fine, I wouldn't be surprised to learn at all that anxiety was the cause.