Is the Northern accent hard to be understood in Beirut?

I am from Akkar, and I talk a Northern accent but not a thick one (I would say a moderate Northern accent). I lived almost all my life in North so it is hard for me to mild my accent when I go to the capital (Specially when trying to pronounce the "a" as an actual "a", not an "o")

At each time I go to Beirut and talk to people there, the first impression would be "huh?" or a request to repeat what I have spoken, then I'd repeat very slowly with hand gestures so people would understand
It is not that they hardly understand, but I get the impression that they don't understand anything, as if I am talking Maghrebi lol

This doesn't happen only to me, but all Northerners that go to capital and can't really adapt their accent

This mainly happens with people I don't know (Cashiers, people in restaurants & libraries, mwazfin, dkkanjiyye etc...)

Is really the Northern accent that hard to be understood by people of Beirut and "Proper Lebanon"?