Aspies and good hearing ?

[islandria]

I've had better hearing and smelling than other people all my life. I'm starting to understand that it's not 'just me'. Part of having aspergers symptoms means our senses are heightened. This means we are more sensitive to the world we live in. For people without our symptoms, the world is adjusted to their ability to 'be in it'. We are constantly dealing with our sensitivities. (I'm generalizing based on my own (newly acquired awareness) and my own experiences. I never knew why I had better hearing and smell (my mothers perfume constantly gave me headaches - she never seemed to care) These are my sensitivities. Also I'm highly sensitive to traffic when crossing the street. I jump at vehicle noises and can never figure out why drivers don't slow down quietly. I now realize that they don't share the same sensitivities. They have no awareness of this. I alwsys thought they were being insensitive and knowing it. No! They have no idea! I cover my ears when a siren goes past. Noise hurts!

 

[Judge]

I've had better hearing and smelling than other people all my life. I'm starting to understand that it's not 'just me'. Part of having aspergers symptoms means our senses are heightened. This means we are more sensitive to the world we live in. For people without our symptoms, the world is adjusted to their ability to 'be in it'. We are constantly dealing with our sensitivities. (I'm generalizing based on my own (newly acquired awareness) and my own experiences. I never knew why I had better hearing and smell (my mothers perfume constantly gave me headaches - she never seemed to care) These are my sensitivities. Also I'm highly sensitive to traffic when crossing the street. I jump at vehicle noises and can never figure out why drivers don't slow down quietly. I now realize that they don't share the same sensitivities. They have no awareness of this. I alwsys thought they were being insensitive and knowing it. No! They have no idea! I cover my ears when a siren goes past. Noise hurts!

Yes! And yet it was only when I came to this forum to figure it out as a lifetime condition that I have. Until I started to discover my own autism I never really gave it much thought. Just another annoying thing to live with. Go figure.

 

[islandria]

Yes! And yet it was only when I came to this forum to figure it out as a lifetime condition that I have. Until I started to discover my own autism I never really gave it much thought. Just another annoying thing to live with. Go figure.

Me too. I know.

 

[Rob]

Yes, my hearing is very sensitive. I often have to plug my ears to block out the TV set when I go to sleep for the next day's work day. On rare occasions I will hear my mom make a request for something to drink, etc. Then, I can hear her questions from a good distance away while my father hears nothing. I am in the kitchen to get her drink and give her the glass, before my dad responds. This happens once a month or so.
But when the TV is on in the morning before I go to work, the earplugs go in right away!

 

[GoofKing]

I've had better hearing and smelling than other people all my life. I'm starting to understand that it's not 'just me'. Part of having aspergers symptoms means our senses are heightened. This means we are more sensitive to the world we live in. For people without our symptoms, the world is adjusted to their ability to 'be in it'. We are constantly dealing with our sensitivities. (I'm generalizing based on my own (newly acquired awareness) and my own experiences. I never knew why I had better hearing and smell (my mothers perfume constantly gave me headaches - she never seemed to care) These are my sensitivities. Also I'm highly sensitive to traffic when crossing the street. I jump at vehicle noises and can never figure out why drivers don't slow down quietly. I now realize that they don't share the same sensitivities. They have no awareness of this. I alwsys thought they were being insensitive and knowing it. No! They have no idea! I cover my ears when a siren goes past. Noise hurts!

Ever noticed that people have am almost scent to them ? I could sometimes tell when people are here because I smelt their perfume/cologne or etc ...

 

[Sander]

Ever noticed that people have am almost scent to them ? I could sometimes tell when people are here because I smelt their perfume/cologne or etc ...

Me too, it hangs around for a very long time, and I can even recognize people when smelling their body odor.

 

[islandria]

Me too, it hangs around for a very long time, and I can even recognize people when smelling their body odor.

Yes and yes.

 

[garnetflower13]

Yes, I am often told that I have hypersensitive hearing. I usually get driven mad by the sound the refrigerator makes, and just yesterday I took the battery out of the wall clock in the kitchen because I couldn't stand the ticking. As for booming bass, I usually meltdown. I also despise fireworks because they make me crazy with their unpredictability and how loud they can be. I can hear soft music from blocks away, even though I have a constant ringing in my ears. But I also enjoy soft sounds, like rain hitting my umbrella, wind chimes (I picked a pair that had a tone that appealed to me) soft piano music, breezes passing through trees, and pages turning in a book.

 

[garnetflower13]

Me too, it hangs around for a very long time, and I can even recognize people when smelling their body odor.

Yes to this, too! I always dislike it when some repair person has to enter my home, because their scent lingers for hours. I have often lit incense to mask it.

 

[GoofKing]

My dad finds it annoying when I tell him that he has waay too much cologne on ... The same went for my brothers lol Does anyone suffer from what I think it's called selective hearing ?

I think it has to do with my attention span and distractions ...

 

[Aspie@60]

My husband says I can hear a fly pass wind at 100 yards. Would that qualify as hypersensitive hearing?

 

[GoofKing]

My husband says I can hear a fly pass wind at 100 yards. Would that qualify as hypersensitive hearing?

You can hear a fly pass wind a hundred yards away ? That's nothing, I could throw a football and be at the receiving end just twenty second before it reaches it's destination

 

[mama_lotus]

I don't feel like I have excellent hearing. I tend to not be able to hear very well at all if there's background noise. However I spent years of my life at raves so there's that. I am overly sensitive to noises that startle though. I like bass and repetitive noises (see years spent at raves) but not in small spaces. Nobody ever remarked that I did exceptionally well on a hearing test, but I've never failed one either. There's those "hummingbird ring tones" all the youngins get these days to hide their phones from teachers and parents and I found some online and fell within my age group for what pitches I could hear.

 

[anthoskate]

I found this but I don't have good headphones to try it. Start from low to high otherwise your going to give yourself a shock.
Free hearing test on line – Equal loudness contours and audiometry

 

[GoofKing]

There's online hearing tests ? lol Why didn't bother to look for them ? I'm curious about how much my hearing has degraded over the years

 

[Dinotector]

I don't feel like I have excellent hearing. I tend to not be able to hear very well at all if there's background noise. However I spent years of my life at raves so there's that. I am overly sensitive to noises that startle though. I like bass and repetitive noises (see years spent at raves) but not in small spaces. Nobody ever remarked that I did exceptionally well on a hearing test, but I've never failed one either. There's those "hummingbird ring tones" all the youngins get these days to hide their phones from teachers and parents and I found some online and fell within my age group for what pitches I could hear.

In a way I would be glad that you're hearing is not nearly as sensitive because it can be overwhelming and hurt like crazy. Then people think you are crazy because they can't hear the noises. Example: electrical outlets make an unbearable buzzing sound.

 

[Butterfly_Lady]

better hearing? not for me, my hearing is "directional" if I am not looking at you, the sound gets garbled, many times I have to have things repeated more than once to understand what was said.

 

[anthoskate]

This is what I can hear but I don't really know if it's accurate because I have a loud computer next to my face.

 

[mama_lotus]

In a way I would be glad that you're hearing is not nearly as sensitive because it can be overwhelming and hurt like crazy. Then people think you are crazy because they can't hear the noises. Example: electrical outlets make an unbearable buzzing sound.

Ah, yes I get this to a milder degree. I can hear fluorescent lights and certain electrical devices and outlets, but it's not constant for me. Suddenly I will reach a threshold with something and be like "Oh, FFS I have to get out of here. NOW!" and generally flip out. Then I will usually be nauseous or get a migraine. But I feel like that is just sensitivity, not my actual hearing, which I believe is subpar, particularly with competing background noise. For instance if someone is on the phone with water running, I'm like "can you please stop doing the dishes or call me back later?" I just can't focus on the words they are trying to say with background sounds.

I didn't notice yesterday there was a second page to this thread, and a big emphatic YES to the smell of other people.

 

[Dinotector]

Ah, yes I get this to a milder degree. I can hear fluorescent lights and certain electrical devices and outlets, but it's not constant for me. Suddenly I will reach a threshold with something and be like "Oh, FFS I have to get out of here. NOW!" and generally flip out. Then I will usually be nauseous or get a migraine. But I feel like that is just sensitivity, not my actual hearing, which I believe is subpar, particularly with competing background noise. For instance if someone is on the phone with water running, I'm like "can you please stop doing the dishes or call me back later?" I just can't focus on the words they are trying to say with background sounds.

I didn't notice yesterday there was a second page to this thread, and a big emphatic YES to the smell of other people.

Background noises make everything harder for sure. And..it's agreed that the smell of people is strong.