Hearing every noise

Me too ! 

I made a slightly related post under the Symptoms topic - How we hear. However the title is misleading as I don't explain how! Sorry about that. I don't think I mentioned much about noises, but I do suffer from easily being distracted by noise, when I'm trying to concentrate at work. Also high pitched hums I can hear from some monitors - not just the old CRTs but new LCD types - go unnoticed by others.

I wish I had a sensory room like that. I would like an airy room with muted light, no noise, some calming pictures on the walls, perhaps some flowers, and soft bean bags with cushions.

My ears were tested in year one of primary school because I was apparently not hearing what the teacher was saying, but my hearing is fine. I think I just tuned out because what the teacher was saying did not interest me.

Also, when my brother was younger (who is also on the spectrum) they kept testing to see if he was deaf, but the tests kept coming back negative.  Turns out he had problems listening, not hearing.  

When two people are talking at once, not even a pubfull of people, I get confused.

Also, my Mum is getting annoyed with me.  Everytime I visit her I turn off her microwave and she has to set the time up again and everything when she switches it back on.  It's makes the worst continuous high pitch sound ever, which no one else seems to hear...

My local One Stop Shop has just moved and have installed a sensory room.  I was invited to the unnoficial open day, the one before the press were invited, and I got to use the room and it was awesome.  On a big furry beanbag with soft lighting, and no noise at all.  I miss it...  Especially on days where my senses are overloaded.  It's why I like my desk and house to be clear and calming, because seeing a lot of things is just tiring  :/

I have the same problem, but I am most affected by background noise when I am in my own space because it feels like an invasion. I associate home with peace and quiet, but I seldom find quietude even at home, and it sometimes feels like there is no-where to hide away from the cacophony of everyday life.

I can cope with noise better if I am in control, there is an escape route, the space is a collective one where noise to some extent is expected, and I am not having to concentrate on other things. If I have to concentrate on something, it does not matter where I am, the noise prevents me from focusing and I get distracted and over-stimulated.

Noise affects me the most when I am tired and already stressed. The worst culprits are complex stimuli that involve noise and movement, such as busy roads with lots of cars, crowds; etc.

I also get overloaded by lawnmowers, people talking, creaking noises and tapping sounds.

I was interested by what you said about loud music. If I get stressed, and many worries churn round in my head, then I use loud music to drown out the noise in my head. Complex music played loudly helps me to think sometimes. Yet at other times, I need silence to think.

Background noise is an issue. If I am slightly bored with the conversation I am suposed to be involved in, then my ears start to tune in to others around, to see if they are more interesting. I end up hearing snippets from all around and can focus on none.

Glad the interpretation proved useful to you.

Background noise in pubs etc is something that ought to be easily found in books on autistic spectrum, but is very much lacking. That might be down to the professionals (and NAS) having a fixation with the triad, and addressing sensory issues as a poor second. However it doesn't seem unique to people on the spectrum. Not have I been able to find out if many people on the spectrum experience this.

I cannot do collective socialising. I don't avoid it altogether, but my efforts to indulge in it are usually fraught. If lots of other people around me are talking, or there is other complex background noise, I don't even hear meaningful English - it sounds foreign. I have to guess my way through conversations and do a lot of nodding to imply I follow.

It also seems to affect how I speak. I seem to lose coherence and have difficulty expressing myself.  Also I tire very quickly in social gatherings like pubs or parties and start to dissociate from it, lose all connectivity - almost a sort of shut down. That has led to me being accused of being drunk or on drugs, when I drink little, and certainly don't do drugs. 

However if I go (well in the past tense really) to a venue with dominant loud music, that overrides the multiple conversation effect, I'm much less affected. I don't like loud music, but it seems safer and perhaps predictable and manageable.

But my efforts to find out about this phenomenon don't raise any help from autism professionals or NAS, more likely I get other non-autistic spectrum people saying they have the same problem.

So this may have nothing to do with autistic spectrum

Thank you so much. I really do have a problem with filtering out background noise - I struggle to hear what people are saying in pubs etc. I'd never put the two together - instead thinking I had a hearing problem!

Hi fi_110, this experience probably relates to two things, higher sensitivity to sound and inability to filter out background.

Non autistic spectrum people mostly are able to filter out background, though it is not exclusively an AS problem, and is reported by some people with dyslexia. It makes social situations harder. But to some extent it explains why other people cannot hear the noises if there are able to "tune out".

Heightened perception and sensitivity to sound is an often encountered characteristic of autistic spectrum. You most often read about sudden noise and high pitched noise, so hearing noises less audible to others seems less often discussed. Maybe the scientists don't believe it - one of the many things about autism they don't seem to know about.

But I read somewhere (but cannot find) a story about a primary school child who wrote down the answers to a teacher led test in his own classroom, and the answers to the one going on next door. There are plenty of like examples in the literature.

However anticipation may play a part. If you expect the sound you will search for it, and it will be enhanced by anxiety. You can get a better understanding by sitting comfortably near locations where you most often experience this and just contemplating what faint noises you hear. You can then, to some extent reverse the process, by thus desensitizing yourself to some noises. If you can learn to 'love' these noises, rather than feel threatened by them, you may reduce the incidence.

The option is headphones, with or without music, ear plugs, a radio on in the background, or some source of comfortable white noise you can live with that merges out the other sounds.

In the days of cassette tapes I constantly suffered from hearing the track on the other side whispering past in reverse. It spoiled my listening. To this day I've never quite established whether it was a common fault or just me. I'd send tapes back to the record company, or return them to the shop but no-one else could detect it; I changed tape recorders often. Also I'd hear the squeak of the winder, and I hear sounds from CD players as well.

However I'm reminded of the number of car drivers I've met who are obsessed about every squeak or grumble from their cars out of concern something is not right. So maybe non autistic spectrum people are able to override their filter when anxious about sounds.

I'll bet you'll get lots of other answers to this one.