What your sound sensitivity sounds like?

[UFO]

This topic made me think: Music: Who doesn't like it? No, really.....

How a sound sensitivity manifests to you?

Does it feel like if some very quiet noise just barely crosses hearing threshold, it then amplifies like thru broken audio amplifier: loud and more distorted than it would be if you would have heard it in a normal volume?

Or is the sound itself quiet, but it just catches your all attention feeling irritating as such?

How much quality and form of sound affects? Is a steady hum (like static from untuned radio, or hum from distant steady traffic highway), different to a chaotic change of pitch and loudness (like room full of chatter) if both are low volume?

 

[Neonatal RRT]

For me:
1. 3, sometimes 4, sometimes 5 high-pitched frequencies of tinnitus. Sometimes it is in the background, as I can focus upon other audible stimuli, but if the environment is silent, the tinnitus can be rather irritating, uncomfortable, and distracting.
2. A generalized sensitivity to volume. My wife is not hard of hearing, but to her, my television and stereo listening volume is way too soft for her. I like a volume of 10-14, she is more 18-22.
3. I can hear at ultra-high frequencies, roughly 10,000Hz above the typical adult human. It can be a bit distracting at work in the hospital with all the electronic equipment in my environment. It was interesting the first time my wife used our new conductive stove top, I was almost in a panic trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. My wife, totally oblivious and thought I was nuts.

 

[kriss72]

I think in general sound seem more loud to me than to my peers, like painfully loud, for something others don't care about, it has always been that way for me - the other aspect is probably more adhd related, that any sounds make my brain jump to it, like if you go to a shop, then there are sounds from the ventilation, from refrigerators, escalators people talking, all trying to grap my attention - but then in my room, I have a clock that goes tick-tick-tick, that doesn't bother me, maybe because it is predictable.... but that doesn't mean the noise sensitivity makes any sense or is consistent.

 

[Misty Avich]

My hearing isn't good compared to others my age but that doesn't stop me getting sensitive to certain pitches of sound. Very low-pitched sounds and very high-pitched sounds can physically hurt my ears, more my right ear than my left ear, because my right ear is the deafer ear. The low thumping and rumbling sounds from the neighbours above can kind of hurt my head as well as my eardrums (I have perforated eardrums). It can have the same effect as nails on a chalkboard. Oucchhh!!!! It can even set off dizziness too.
Extreme high-pitched noise makes my eardrums feel like they're bleeding. I remember one time on a bus this toddler had such a loud, high-pitched scream, that it made me wince, and I literally had earache for about an hour or so after that.

People don't understand how horrible it is to live in this world when you have sound sensitivity. And my ADHD makes certain sounds so distracting for me too, to the point where it's misophonia. I don't mind hearing people chew (I can't actually hear sounds like that anyway), but I get very distressed if someone sneezes if it's loud or if they keep on and on doing a sneeze every 4-5 seconds for ages. I know some people who can sneeze up to 50 times or more. I suffer with my sinuses and sneeze a lot but I've never done that many during a sneezing session. The most I do is 3, although usually I just do 1 or 2, then 1 sporadically if I'm having one of my sinus flare-ups.

 

[UberScout]

For me it's something like "eeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWE"

 

[AuroraBorealis]

For me, I don't find it physically painful, but... cognitively, if that makes sense?
I have a problem with:
- sudden, loud noises like a bang or a fork falling on the table
- particularly high-pitched noises
- noise that kind of fills up the whole room, like when you're sitting in a concert hall before it starts and the hall is full of people talking and buzzing
The longer I am exposed to it, the more it feels like my head hurts, my stomach tightens, I get more and more flustered and confused.

 

[marc_101]

Good question. For me is more like annoyance/overwhelm. Examples:

I'm in a car with one or more people. We're talking. Then somebody increases the volume of the music. I start getting very annoyed, anxious. I can't pay attention to anything because everything is too much at the same time. I feel it in my stomach.

Another usual case: a very loud person talking. I had a very loud student who would go to my office to chat. I would get twisted in knots after 1 minute. Thankfully she didn't get offended when I told her that I was about to go crazy. It became a kind of a joke. I would signal with my hand so she would lower the volume.

 

[UFO]

I forgot to tell what is my experience...

To me it is pretty much as marc_101 and AuroraBorealis above described. And kriss72's shopping experience.

I have never felt actual pain from a noise, and rarely I feel that noises are a little louder that they really are (but not actually loud unless they are already high decibel volume) - like in hangover or migraine, except that I don't have hangover or migraine, just being already overwhelmed which seems to amplify things.

Usually noises are just annoying. Only once a noise has really set me off: Electrical fire alarm device went off. It was so loud high pitched noise, and so painful and annoying that I went... um... criminally insane. If that machine would have been a human being, I would be now doing a life sentence in a prison.

Hmmm. I don't know where that "very quiet noise just barely crosses hearing threshold, it then amplifies like thru broken audio amplifier"-thing came.

It seems that there is two different kinds of noise sensitivity: one that makes things louder, and one that makes things annoying.

Edit: Ah... Misty Avich said it: So there are things called "hyperacusis" and "misophonia". More to read about before going to bed.

 

[marc_101]

It's hard to tell hyperacusis from "noise bothers me." There are formal ways of testing if a person hears more than others under certain volumes, but it's murky and not often done in an evaluation. I saw once in a documentary a test used for autistic to detect hyperacusis, but I could never find more on it. Let me know if you do.

I have normal hearing. I just had a test done because of tinnitus in one ear (drives me nuts). In that ear I can't hear very high-frequency noises, which seems to be the cause of the tinnitus (the brain trying to compensate).

 

[Outdated]

I have a few different problems with sound. First is a sensitivity to high pitched sounds, the same as @Neonatal RRT mentioned, I can hear a lot of sounds that most of you can't.

Some particular high frequencies cause me extreme pain. It doesn't hurt my ears, it hurts inside my head. It feels like someone is pushing a metal spike through my brain. Small babies and some women's voices manage to achieve those frequencies. Electric leaf blowers are OK when they're new but as their bearings get a bit worn they start to make noises very painful to me. I'm glad a I live in a warmer climate where people don't have carpets and don't use vacuum cleaners.

Babbling voices tire me out, I can't stay in a crowded restaurant or in the food section of a shopping centre. Part of my brain keeps trying to understand all those voices, it's like trying to hold a conversation with dozens of people at the same time.

 

[Judge]

Very low frequencies can put me into a "fight or fight" mode rather quickly. So can squawking pigeons on my roof.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Some particular high frequencies cause me extreme pain. It doesn't hurt my ears, it hurts inside my head. It feels like someone is pushing a metal spike through my brain.

Babbling voices tire me out, I can't stay in a crowded restaurant or in the food section of a shopping centre. Part of my brain keeps trying to understand all those voices, it's like trying to hold a conversation with dozens of people at the same time.

Yes, and Yes. It's inside my brain, not my ears. Good observation.

Noisy, crowded gatherings will suck the life out of me in no time. Like, I've got to take a 2-hour nap.

I am somewhat used to those ultra-high frequencies of electronic equipment, as most of the time the intensity isn't enough to cause pain. However, as I described earlier, our new conductive cooktop, Holy Moly! My wife couldn't hear it at all, and I came running from across the house in a panic, "Turn it off! Turn it off!" LOL! Well, come to find out, it only happens when you have two pans too close together. If you just have one pan on the cooktop, no noise.

 

[Misty Avich]

The way I see it, there are 3 kinds of sound sensitivities:-

- Sudden loud noises that can startle you
- Annoying noises that can send you into distress (usually known as misophonia)
- Noises that are painful and hurt your ears

When I was a child the only noise sensitivity I had was with sudden loud noises, as I hated the feeling of being startled (I still do now, although I have learnt to overcome some).
That's why I often avoided dogs when I was a child. I had a fear of dogs, and I didn't like them barking. My family were all cat people, and I preferred cats because they're quieter and predictable. I completely got over my fear of dogs now, although I still prefer cats (and rats).

 

[Outdated]

However, as I described earlier, our new conductive cooktop, Holy Moly! My wife couldn't hear it at all, and I came running from across the house in a panic, "Turn it off! Turn it off!" LOL! Well, come to find out, it only happens when you have two pans too close together. If you just have one pan on the cooktop, no noise.

I've never even seen one of those, but I really appreciate the warning. I got hit by a car when I was 14 and suffered spinal damage but that pain inside my head from sound is far worse.

 

[marc_101]

What about loud bass? Like when a car stops next to you at a light and they have some heavy bass vibrating? I want to strangle them or worse.

I wonder if they lost some brain cells and therefore they tolerate the music and annoy others, or they first starting listening to loud music and then lost brain cells. Just asking for a friend.

 

[Misty Avich]

What about loud bass? Like when a car stops next to you at a light and they have some heavy bass vibrating? I want to strangle them or worse.

Ugh, it annoys me when a car pulls up near my apartment and I can hear music thumping from it, just the base sound. That's why I can't bear the sound of my upstairs neighbours walking to and fro above my head, it has the same hollow booming sort of sound as bass makes in music and it just makes me want to strangle them up there. Then I have the urge to tell them not to move in their own home and to tie their kid down, but obviously I know I have no right to expect that, but that still doesn't stop me getting frustrated and distressed about their noise.

 

[kriss72]

That's why I often avoided dogs when I was a child. I had a fear of dogs, and I didn't like them barking. My family were all cat people, and I preferred cats because they're quieter and predictable. I completely got over my fear of dogs now, although I still prefer cats (and rats).

That is something I have come to realize recently, that the reason I never liked dogs is the barking The same reason I didn't liked balloons, the fear of the bang when they broke

3. I can hear at ultra-high frequencies, roughly 10,000Hz above the typical adult human. It can be a bit distracting at work in the hospital with all the electronic equipment in my environment. It was interesting the first time my wife used our new conductive stove top, I was almost in a panic trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. My wife, totally oblivious and thought I was nuts.

A good thing about getting older for me has been loosing the ability to hear high frequencies, I can't even hear mosquitoes anymore, unless they are like right next to my ear, sleep is so much more easy in the summer now

 

[MNAus]

For me it's nothing to do with my ears, it's an overload somewhere I can't physically place, inside my head. I often explain it as having a The Matrix plug in the back of your head, but someone accidentally plugs it into the mains.

 

[Rodafina]

Certain sounds cause what I call Fuzzy Brain.
- Disorganized thinking
- Irrational irritation that can lead to anger
- Inability to focus on anything but the sound
- Anxious reaction in body (sweating, hyperventilating, increased stimming)

 

[Misty Avich]

Certain sounds cause what I call Fuzzy Brain.
- Disorganized thinking
- Irrational irritation that can lead to anger
- Inability to focus on anything but the sound
- Anxious reaction in body (sweating, hyperventilating, increased stimming)

This is exactly what I get due to the sound of my neighbours. They've only got to walk across the floor up there, or the brat runs and drops his toys about, and I immediately get irrational angry thoughts, cannot focus on anything else but the sound, and start feeling anxious like I can't breathe.
Occasionally I have been in such distress it caused arguments between me and my husband. He says "don't let it rule your life". I hate when people say not to "let it". I'm not intentionally "letting it". It just does. I can't help it. I get angry about always having to wear headphones or earplugs all the time I'm home. I feel it's not natural and is ruining my quality of living. It makes me hate my neighbours without them being anything deliberately to make me hate them.

It really helps when people understand what I mean rather than going on the defensive about them. It's a bad idea to put families in upstairs apartments, end of.