Published on 12, July, 2020
Does anybody have any experience with noise and anger?
Loud noises can sometimes send me into an absolute rage. Its not all noises, I like music and even like it loud sometimes. But other noises such as ice-cream van chimes or church bells affect me very badly. I don’t know if its an ASD thing or a normal reaction to sounds I don’t like.
I used to just try and ignore it and carry on, but I think I am getting less tolerant as I am getting older. I used to just try and push through it and carry on, but now even the tannoy in a supermarket makes me have to leave my shopping and go home.
Yes I do and like you it is something that seems to be getting worse as I get older.
I believe it stems initially from an autistic sensory issue. If calm I can usually tolerate noise up to a certain level. However the more I am exposed to the noise the worse my emotional response becomes. It seems to be a mix of the actual sensory distress and the fear of the sensory distress with my emotional reaction. Being stressed or in a state of autistic burnout can also make us more intolerant to certain noises.
If you haven't heard of Misophonia it's worth looking into, as that is something that many autistic people experience.
It's not all noise and I think that is a common misconception surrounding autistic people. Yes we do like music and even loud music. However I find it difficult to tolerate any background noise when I'm trying to concentrate on doing something. With me the noises that affect me very badly include certain types of dog barking, children screaming, babies crying, certain types of reversing bleepers and the bleeping from tills in some stores.
One of my noise triggers can induce an angry meltdown within seconds. I can go from completely calm to raging, kicking, screaming, sobbing and completely out of control. If I'm in a public place when it happens the amount of effort needed to try and suppress that is immense. Like you I sometimes have to just abandon my shopping and get out of the store, away from the trigger noise.
I wish I knew what the answer was. I've tried all kinds of ear plugs, ear buds, noise cancelling headphones, etc. They do dampen the noise somewhat, but work less well for the kinds of higher pitched noises that seem to bother me more. However the big problem that I have is that once the emotional 'fight or flight' response kicks in, usually instantly on hearing the noise, my heart is pounding so much that all they do is amplify that pounding even further inside my head. That then becomes unbearable further sensory overload for me and I have to take them off.