Noise sensitivity - why has this started now?

Tending to a classroom and listening to music are noises you choose to experience. Those other noises are outside of your control, and force their way into your awareness. It becomes a lot tougher to bear if you were already stressed. The other day I was feeling frustrated, and overheard my stepmother trying to get her dogs to settle down. Absolutely nothing offensive, but after the fourth time of "Right! Enough!", I was certainly having to keep my temper under control.

Yes, the unpredictable ones are worst. A sudden silence break at a louder than expected conversational volume. The oscillating randomness of a trapped fly. The sudden roar of an extra loud car or motorbike revving past at speed. That TSSS! that busses do when their hydraulics kick in. All these things and many more trigger my very low startle reflex. I find myself jumping ten feet into the air (figuratively), my heart racing, while others equally close by don't bat an eyelid.  

That's a great point - the world is so much less carpeted and cushioned these days. It's all hardwood floors and mimimalism in many a home. None of it helping to take the edge of an ever-noisier planet. 

What I've increasingly realised is that if one or two over-sensitivity stimuli are in unremitting play, a third one will all too easily tip the balance into complete overwhelm. For instance, today in the office I'm finding it too bright (and am wearing sunglasses to compensate), and there is an unrelenting oscillating humming noise coming through the open (I'd rather have it closed but that's democracy for you!) window from the roof machinery outside. But because it's not  - today -too cold and the office itself is today relatively quiet/subdues on the conversational front, I'm still pre-shutdown and able to somewhat focus. If it was cold (by my definition, my threshold is lower than others) or something as well, I'd end up totally defocused, exhausted, anxious etc. and desperately counting the minutes to hometime. It's always a lottery. 

So I wonder if it's something similar in your case. There are layers to the whole thing. You've used up most of your tolerance during the working day, and then several environmental factors at once, including the restlessness (not just noise) of children, a 'to do' list with ever-pressing deadlines, fluctuating light and temperature etc. all form an intricate dance that you can't filter out as easily as NT people can. And the ageing process steadily reduces tolerance too - an already low threshold gets even more so when an always leaky battery becomes even leakier with dwindling 'spare' energy reserves etc. 

I do sometime wonder how I coped in the times before I wore sunglasses as often as I pleased, or put in sound filtering earpieces, or engineered more silence and rest in my day. I suppose the only real anser to that is that I never coped especially well, but when I was in my twenties and thirties I had a bit more stretch... and way less now as I race towards fifty!

Oh... One thing which has made it worse in certain circumstances for me is hearing loss. I struggle even more now to understand conversations especially when people are speaking at once in a noisy environment. That means I tend to disengage and it all becomes meaningless noise, which means I disengage further. My hearing aids amplify the noise which makes it even worse!

And COVID... I think that may have made things worse, because I think I adapted rather well to the quiet seclusion of lockdown and maybe forget some of the coping mechanisms that I'd learned over the years. Returning to chaotic, noisy normality was a big problem.

Same here pretty much. I hadn't been conscious of being bothered by noise (well, not as much as I have been lately). And I also like listening to loud music - and playing in a band (though that can sometimes be a problem). Personally, it seems to be linked to unpredictability and chaos. If I am somewhat in control of the sound or engaged with it (listening to music, or playing my instrument in a band) it's easier to process. With respect to conversations happening at once, this is something that has never been easy for me.

And, of course, listening to loud music through headphones helps to shut out those unpredictable or chaotic sounds (for me, at least). Of course, if someone should jog me when I have my headphones on, I might jump a mile in the air (metaphorically).

With regard to the noises when you are teaching, perhaps it's something to do with your professional focus in that situation and being engaged in the process. I sometimes used to find something similar when I was at work - things which might have bothered me socially were not so much of a problem professionally because I was performing a particular function, "doing my thing".

Good luck!

It can be normal for our various sensitivities - including to noises - to vary over time and by context, so please don't worry about that having changed for you recently :)  I'm a big fan of Loops, and I also use noise-cancelling in-ear and over-ear headphones, depending on the situation.

AwkwardKid said:

What makes this more baffling for me is I love spending spending time listening to loud music through headphones

This can also be perfectly normal, even though it does seem counter-intuitive in the context of our noise sensitivities. 

Listening to music (including loud music) can actually be a form of stimming for us, along with humming, singing, whistling, etc - helping to provide sensory feedback, enjoyment, and to help regulate / calm us.

For example: I wear my Loops Experience to dampen crashing sounds from crockery and cutlery when loading or unloading the dishwasher, whilst also listening to loud music through nearby speakers at the same time, and sometimes also singing along! 

This article (for example) explains more:

Autism Understood - Stimming

Frequency, acoustics, level, wiring, all the electronics and physics surrounding how sound is produced play a role. The ones you've described are getting worse in society. Multiple conversations in an open park aren't invasive or frustrating. But in a closed space with poor acoustics? It can be noticeably problematic. 

Further, almost everything conducts sound like a speaker, from water to walls. But depending on the material some are more pleasant than others. I think back to those carpeted basements we were sent to play in when a child. Probably a great container for sound!

AwkwardKid said:

What makes this more baffling for me is I love spending spending time listening to loud music through headphones,

Music is well known for helping you concentrate, but primarily when you have control of it:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-choice/202109/5-tips-improve-concentration-music

I think it is the randomness and lack of control of external noises that cause the issues of breaking concentation and getting on our nerves.

I suspect it is just a phase you are developing through where your brain is now in need of more control of your environment to feel comfortable and productive and the absence of this is having the opposite effect.

I have a theory that loud music, which for me is often very bass driven, shuts out everything else, which is a sensory seeking thing for me. Its the unpredictable nature of "other noises" I am struggling with. Eating sounds are starting to others me too.

My sound sensitivity started at age 16ish but got worse slowly I'm now 35 and instead of just sound hutting my ears in echo rooms I now dislike too many noises at once I now have to be in the right environment for loud music ... my tinnitus and loss of left ear hearing made it even worse