Noise and autism. What's your experience?

[The Pandector]

First off, I love hearing that your life has improved somewhat. (And yes, I had to go back and add this because I originally jumped right in by responding to the question about the window concept.) Oh well. LOVED the last part of your response by the way. It made me laugh because I can so easily relate.

According to my understanding, the size of the opening of the window is not self-determined. Nor is it meant to represent an ideal or "the best." It is more a description of the starting point of your nervous system. This can obviously fluctuate greatly at any point during the day, but I think we each have a baseline of sorts. I attached a picture I found online that correlated with this idea. It is just an example. I have not thoroughly researched how accurate this is statistically. But it is an example of how someone's nervous system with Autism or trauma can look different from a person that does not have them. While the picture is not a window, you can imagine the difference between the two different neurologies in much the same way. So greater family stress puts everyone closer to the red stress threshold line. The closer one is to that line, the quicker that person becomes overwhelmed.

Ah. A personal starting point, not a goal. Yes, the graphic helps. It makes sense now, how the multiple traumas lowered my threshold so I was constantly overstimulated. Only with the kindness of time did a quiet life take me further from my threshold. Thanks for good mental pictures to help understand a very precarious time of life.

 

[vergil96]

But I can say already that I feel more relaxed when I'm wearing them, particularly around other people. It seems that I find it easier to stay inside my own head rather than becoming focused on everything going on around me.

I don't feel as exhausted after going shopping if I wear ANC headphones. Crowded places and shopping malls are loud and hence stressful. Also, I can not get panic attacks from alarms (geez, do they really need to make them so extremely loud? Ears literally hurt from them, it means hearing damage is being done)

I don't find it that I hear worse in them, I actually hear better, the background noise makes speech sound like gibberish.

I also use them while driving to not be on edge while an ambulance is passing by on signal or someone is tooting (it's way too loud).

I also use Loops earplugs, they're suitable for an exam... or you can just use them in public, especially those that allow you to hear speech.

 

[SeanF]

I don't feel as exhausted after going shopping if I wear ANC headphones. Crowded places and shopping malls are loud and hence stressful. Also, I can not get panic attacks from alarms (geez, do they really need to make them so extremely loud? Ears literally hurt from them, it means hearing damage is being done)

I don't find it that I hear worse in them, I actually hear better, the background noise makes speech sound like gibberish.

I also use them while driving to not be on edge while an ambulance is passing by on signal or someone is tooting (it's way too loud).

I also use Loops earplugs, they're suitable for an exam... or you can just use them in public, especially those that allow you to hear speech.

I am going to give the Loops earplugs a try. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[vergil96]

(I also sometimes have serious issues with noise like the panic attacks or I sometimes vomit from too loud sounds, I was unlucky to vomit during an exam, because there was a street renovation outside just below the class window - so I need to carry a pair of ear plugs around just in case. It's an extreme panic attack and those feel like a black hole imploded in my head and time and reality warp into monster detection and fighting mode, not like anything I want to happen in any degree unless an actual hungry wolf or bear comes around. Everything goes haywire)

 

[Midnights11]

What makes noises even more annoying for me is, I’m such a sensitive person to stimuli, I can FEEL them. Like idk how to explain it other than I feel them throughout my entire system. It makes it annoying and exhausting with chewing, coughing and when someone clears their throat. Children screaming and carrying on too. And I just keep quiet because they’re normal to everyone else, so no one would get why I’m bothered

 

[Jumpinbare]

I have had people insist to me that it's impossible for me to hear some of the really grating sounds that bother me.

 

[Misty Avich]

The way I see it, there are 3 different noise sensitivities; startling easily, getting annoyed, and ear pain.

The noises that startle me are:-

Dogs barking (when you can't see them, like from behind a fence)
Bells ringing (the electric bells on walls)
Cars or buses horns sounding
Someone calling me while I'm engrossed in a task
People with loud sneezes you don't see coming
Ambulance sirens suddenly turning on as they pass

The noises that annoy me are:-

Babies and children crying, screaming or shouting
People moving around in the room above me
Cars horns sounding
People coughing or sneezing loudly
Loud motorcycles or car engines
Hearing a TV chattering or murmuring from another room
Hearing music thumping outside my apartment
TVs that are on too unnecessarily loud
People throwing heavy metal objects on to concrete
Farts that sound like a duck quacking

The noises that hurt my ears:-

People moving around in the room above if the floor is hollow or no carpets
Dogs with a high-pitched bark
People with loud coughs (usually smokers)
Children screaming (particularly toddlers because their voices are higher-pitched)
People throwing heavy metal objects on to concrete

 

[NB79]

i am sensitive to sound, i can endure sounds without having too much issues, but they can irritate me greatly, i couln't imagine living in a traffic busy street, it would drive me crazy.