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Noise sensitivity isn't the same in different environments.

lostmyway

I’ve often wondered why I can cope just fine when I visit a bowling alley, even though it can be very loud with the sounds of bowling balls, slot machines, music, and people talking and laughing. Yet at other times, like when fireworks are going off around Guy Fawkes Night, I can’t stand it and usually have to put on my noise-cancelling headphones. I’m curious how that works.

  • in reply to TheCatWoman

    Something that’s just occurred to me (and I hadn’t thought of before, but really distresses me), is when there’s a bad storm at night and you can hear things blowing around. I can’t help but think about all the potential damage it could cause, like knocking down garden fences, tearing off roof tiles, and so on. I’m talking about a really bad storm. I can’t get to sleep, and all I end up doing is listening to the radio to block out the noise until it’s calmed down, which could be hours and hours.The problem is, the radio gives weather updates that talk about the storm, which kind of makes things worse.

  • in reply to Marcd94

    I tried earloops and they didn't fit, the little caps you put on apart from being fiddly, I tried all of them, I nearly lost one down my ear, the nearest fit, I could hear my hair rustling about which was worse than the actual noises I was trying to get away from and the larger one felt like I was trying to push my elbow in my ear. They were a horrible company to deal with too, I had problems sending them back as QR codes or a printer were the only ways of doing it and I don't have either.

    I have the hearing my hair problem with over the ear head phones too.

  • For me it's voices. I can usually tune out loud noises and quite enjoy things like concerts or football matches where I can lose myself in the group. But if I'm in an environment like say the local pub or a party where there's multiple conversations happening at once my brain tries to listen to all of them, gets overwhelmed and I have a shutdown. To the point where I routinely wear headphones in crowded environments because the noise of whatever music I'm listening to blocks the part of my brain that tries to hear conversations. It's weird but it works. 

  • in reply to lostmyway

    I find myself equally sensitive and there's no "good" noise.

  • I use loop earplugs they are very discrete 

  • in reply to Bunny

    Thanks, Bunny. I do think there used to be a tendency to assume autism only applied to kids, so if you were holding down a job and were good at masking, people thought you were basically fine.

  • This can be normal for us. This article, including the section mentioned in this snippet, explains more: 

    "Some people have a mixed and/or varying sensory experience, including both hyper-sensitivity and hypo-sensitivity. This can mean you have different levels of sensitivity in different senses, or even to different inputs within the same sense. Your sensitivity may vary over time, in different environments or due to other factors, such as your mental and physical health. For more information about this, read ‘Mixed and varying sensory experiences’ in the next section."

    NAS - Autism and sensory processing