Early 50s here, have spent decades trying to overcome this, it's been a hard road. I'm making progress but it's turtle speed slow. You're right, they look at us weirdly, astonished that something as easy as speaking to hard. Biggest struggle for me has been with more than one person talking, especially fast talkers, always felt less than human for years. Never could keep up.. too many blocks, they would just talk over me every time.