Published on 12, July, 2020
I am most comfortable with complete silence.
I wonder if this is the autism at play?
When I was growing up our house was always noisy and I think I was traumatised by it.
There were no quiet refuges - I even shared a bedroom until I left home.
My mum had to have sound on all the time. I believe she was autistic but I think she had an under sensitivity to noise, which I'm pretty sure I've read can also be an autism thing.
Then I had a series of shared flats, which were noisy, then bedsits until I purchased a quiet flat in my 30s.
Then I lived in a nice Victorian house on my own which still had some noise, as it was on a busy road in Portsmouth and terraced.
Nowadays I am lucky.
The last 15 years I have lived in a very quiet detached house where once the windows are closed there is no outside (or inside often) noise at all.
My husband is a quiet person + spends a lot of time in his studio outside.
It's taken me a long time to get to this quiet place in my life - I am now 61.
How do you respond to noise/silence?
Noise that I have no control over makes me very distressed. I have tinnitus in my left ear from spending a couple of minutes (just long enough to gather my stuff and leave) at a loud concert five years ago so I don't get silence any more. When I need to sleep or focus, I usually play some kind of sound, often ambient or soft piano music, to give my brain something to focus on rather than listening out for other noises or tuning into the ringing. I put my playlist on max volume, put the speaker close to my head, but then wear earplugs and/or defenders for background noise blocking. It's probably good I live alone or that might be annoying for another person. When I'm out and about I use blutooth earphones as my sound producing layer between moldable silicone plugs and overhead ear defenders.