Published on 12, July, 2020
I've always had an interest in music, whether it was going through my dads collection of vinyl records, Italia '90 and the incredible sound of Luciano Pavarotti or recording songs off the radio (one of favourite things was trying to arrange a list of all the songs I had according to which I liked most).
Since getting diagnosed however, I've been questioning how my taste in music fits in with my autism because I love loud rock and pounding dance music.
I relax to the sounds of Muse, Marilyn Manson, Deftones and Foo Fighters. I love the wall of sound generated by bands like My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth or Sigur Ros. I still get prickles up my back listening to Prodigy's "Firestarter" or when the beat drops in the middle of Chemical Brothers "Setting Sun".
And I don't get it. One of my autistic traits is that if there is too much noise around me it can become overwhelming and difficult to focus on things. Yet I can still pick out the rhythm section (bass, drums etc) in bands like Interpol, Pixies, Nirvana and ...Trail Of The Dead.
I'm wondering what everyone else feels about music. Do you like loud music or does it have to be quieter and gentler or music from a specific genre? Does anyone have sensory issues when they hear any kind of music?
Thanks!
Yes, I'm also hypersensitive to sound but love music and used to play it really loud when I was young (now worry about ears and use headphones at sensible volume). Like Chemical Brothers too! I put headphones and music on and just sit and stim for hours on end, far, far away . . .
First music concert I ever went to I stood right next to the stage and beside one bank of speakers. Dont think it affected my hearing because I can still hear minute sounds others cant. Sometimes people think Im a bit deaf because I cant pick up what theyre saying to me but its only because theres something else going on in the background thats getting mixed in as well.
When I was a teenager I would sometimes put my hifi speakers on the floor about 12 inches apart and lie with my head between them using them like headphones! Also took out the volume limiting resistors from the headphone socket of my HiFi :-)
I get exactly the same as you - my hearing is normal (I test it myself with signal generators online and have had it tested by the NHS) but I *often* fail to hear what people are saying because of other conversations / background noise.
i struggle ho heal with background sounds. I think my brain takes more time to process speech as I often say "what" to someone but then reasize what they said.