I can't make out any conversation in a noisy environment so usually switch to try-to-filter-noise-and-fail plus some amateur form of lip reading which works ok for a casual conversation but not for a more serious one. Hearing is "ok" enough though when testing, so no clue what it is.
It helps a lot when the ambient noise level reduced by a few db and tuning down the music helps a lot.
Edit: but OTOH I see people having actual conversations in those same environments, so I guess it doesn't affect everyone in the same way, and it's not either something fully related to how my eardrums are capable of working...
I’ve had my hearing tested. It’s within normal ranges across all frequencies tested. I have to assume it’s some kind of discrimination or processing difficulty in my brain.
I’ve noticed the same effect can be triggered even in a white environment by only two or three people trying to talk to me at the same time. I can’t understand anything any of them are saying and can’t listen to just one.
I think the two aspects might be related. Possibly the average brain is more finetuned to recognize speech specifically, which comes at the cost of recognizing other sounds, but improves speech recognition. Ours are less finetuned, with the opposite effect.
Most people definitely do not have it as badly as I do, or they'd never go to a noisy bar and try to talk. It's simply impossible for me to do anything but pay full attention to the person talking, and even then I often have to guess many of the words.
I even went and got my hearing checked (and my wife did at the same time), but the clerk assured me that we don't definitely have hearing problems and joked that we needed marriage counseling instead. :/ It's funny now, but I was a little pissed at the time.
Anyhow, my point is that some of us do indeed "hear" worse in noisy environments, even if our ears are amazing when it's quiet.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_auditory_attention
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_processing_disorder