Published on 12, July, 2020
I spoke to my therapist about this the other day, I often hear things.... not voices but sounds and I have such a hard time identifying where the noise comes from or if I am imagining it. And it makes me so anxious, even panicky. I sometimes even do hear things, but like if someone's called my name but haven't, suppose that's mishearing.... I am trying to understand if this is somewhat common and based on my sound sensitivities. I get like this a lot when I am anxious or overwhelmed.... I am a late diagnoses so trying to get my head around what's common and what is not. Any similarities or advice welcome! I sick of worrying if I am going crazy and why sounds can make me so on edge.
I experiance this. Ill hear something that other people cant hear and it will bother me. And it sounds like its comming from the right then when I look right then it sounds like its comming from the left then when I look left then it sounds like its comming from everywhere and nowhere all at the same time.
I will only hear voices when im overwhelmed. Like walking down a crowded street then I can hear someone saying my name then I look around and nobody is saying anything to me. So then I keep walking and pretend I dont hear anything but then I worry that someone actually is saying my name and that im just ignoring them.
I wonder if im crazy or maybe I thought it could be a trauma responce? When I was growing up then Id hide in my room most of the day and if I heard even the slighest sound then id freeze and just hope nobody was comming to me. And Id also listen closely when people were talking about me so maybe I just hear things because of that? I dont know, I could just be trying to make an escuse, I could just be crazy.
Anouther thing that you didnt say but I thought of when reading the title, was I have a hard time identifying what people are saying because of the different sounds. Like just yesterday my dad said "do you hear those sirens?" and I thought he said "do you have the assignment?" and I thought he was talking to someone else cause it didnt make sense but then he got mad that I didnt respond. People are always saying that they cant understand what im saying because I dont stress my words in the right spot or ill say the wrong sounds, so I guess I just have trouble with that. I cant tell certain letter apart either, like saying G and saying J sounds the same to me. At doctor visits I always have perfect hearing, so I can hear sounds just fine, I just cant process them properly I suppose.
I struggle in busy environments, if I’m in the village pub it will start off okay, I can hear all the conversations going on and process all of them. All of a sudden I will hit a saturation point and the whole lot becomes a loud din. I know my brain is starting to fry, it’s time to get out of there.
I have tinnitus but can still hear things that most wouldn’t, I know if a car is approaching the village, the thing I struggle most with is my understanding of song lyrics, the actual lyrics are nothing like the words I thought they are.
Not really - except for my inbuilt "comedy" filter for the spoken word ie...if someone says something that CAN be misheard to be funny...then I automatically hear that version too.
I have tinnitus a lot, but that does not make me mishear or mis-identify sounds.......it's just very frigging annoying!
It's important to figure out what is a hallucination, what is real, and what is real but nobody else can hear for whatever reason, ie tinnitus tones, tensor tympani syndrome, or if you are like me you can consiously manipulate your inner ear muscle in isolatation voluntarily so the sound is happening but super local to just my ears.
That's interesting, I did wonder if it was linked to SPD or APD - Can confidently say I do not hear voices. But I hear odd sounds, like a mechanical sound last night whilst listening to brown noise (which I listen too most nights, but have never heard that mechanical noise before) - Makes me awfully anxious..
No. Not misidentifying sounds anyway. I can identify which neighbor across the road has turned their bathroom tap on in the night for the sounds alone, I can "see" with ears I know when number 26, 27, or 28 has come home because not only do their cars all sound slightly different but I can tell how far they parked up the carpark by the direction of the gravel crunch, how many people got out of the car by the number of footsteps coming up our shared path and if I didn't know who it was already from the sound I do when I hear which of the front doors open and shut. Despite we do not share a building.What I can't do is hear a single word someone right next to me and looking me in the eye is saying in a noisy cafe or with a busy street nearby, it's like their lips are moving but I don't hear the words.I am not just hearing things when my ears are in hyper mode tho, a friend with standard hearing and one with hearing loss I don't even bother asking anymore "did you hear that?" because they didn't. I have a friend with SPD who is quick to verify yes I did infact hear stuff to them though when they see me sharp turn my head like a cat.