Published on 12, July, 2020
I've decided to try and explore Autism from a "How it works" or perhaps "Systems analyisis" perspective.
I hope that perhaps between us we can codify a set of insights that will eb genrally helpful to the wider community.
Going to start with sound sensitivity, because it's a sense I've used and explored a lot as a hi-fi buff and as a babysitter for a screaming sibling so I have a little bit of insght I believe.
Here's what I think I know:
In me, (I believe I'm AUDD) processing sound seems to require an amount of mental bandwidth and attention that I do not always have availalble. When I am committed to whatever is in front of me, using all my focus, I generally miss the first part of the conversation. As a kid I had my ears syringed a lot because they thought I was "a bit deaf"
In my teens I discovered that combining hyperfocus with listening, really listening, to a piece of music bought me rich rewards whilst passing teh time in a way that did not bring down trouble on my head, BUT there was a downside. I really don't like having my listening sessions interrrupted, so I had to pick my time and place.
Then I discovered that I cannot drive and talk very well at the same time. And when things get busy in the driivng experience (fog, or other complications) I tend to turn off the music first. If I'm speeding excessively, there will be no music...
I believe certain sounds "trigger" an abrupt requirement for "processing power" in some way and it's literally an unpleasant experience for us, and curiously enough, the louder the sound, the more call for "processing time" which I experience (with a slamming door fro example as an actual "Shock to the system".
I provide an example from my personal life today which clearly ilustrates where my Autism made me an "unpleasant person to be around" as a result of this process.
I was minding my own business, when I was tasked with feeding a cat. I enter the living room to do this focussed on getting to the food without tripping over the little bugger who both demands and impedes the process at the same time. (it's the way he's wired, I have to cope) and he's making repetitve noise at me, when there's a really substantial sounding clattering noise from my G/F's part of the room. I completely overreact, furiously demanding to know "What the *** was that" at the top of my voice. She kindly explains it was her new mobile phone and I switch gears then to being concerned about her poor phone and I pick it up for her and inspect it for damage quickly. The noise it made really sounded like it should have broken, but thankfully it did not.
Unexpected sounds with a sharp rise time command a "fight or flight" reflex in me, which instantly overwhelms my reason until I have identified the nature of the sound.
Conversation then places a burden on me which temporarily makes my I.Q. plummet into the eighties. I'm only skipping away on the edge of the I.Q. bellcurve if I don't actually have to discuss things whilst I do them.
When I get up in the morning, I find that my brain, like my muscles is quite low performing, and EVERYTHING is difficult for a while for about an hour. I've noticed this is a feature also in my ND kid and my father.
Ear defenders seem to give me more bandwidth and because they roll off the "sharper rise times" very well are pretty good for me to wear, and improve my demeanor no end when performing tasks, but I keep forgetting this!
Now, does anyone out there relate to any of this and can you expand on it and ideally strategies I can follow to react less to such sounds?
When I walk in the busy street, I hear a big car coming behind. I turn around. No, it’s not a van, it’s just normal car. Then I hear awful squeak of tram taking turn on the rails. When it passes I catch someone doing dishes in their kitchen. Then I hear something behind me so I make space for them to pass, but it turns out it was just some random trash being thrown by the wind few meters away. Birds, car engines, lawnmower, idk what else. Often these sounds echo in my head and make me feel somehow idk… irritated. Plus wherever I turn my head, I catch some irrelevant information. Names on the doorbells, car plates, name of the street, some other information such as private drive, bakery, broken pavement tile, one balcony on a building is painted in different color, etc and it also echoes in my head. Funny thing when I walk in the city and I catch the names on the doorbells, then I remember who lives in which area of the city, although I don’t know these people. I also tend to maybe subconsciously check which cars are from our city, which ones came from somewhere else and which city they are from. The only thing I do is put some music in my ears. Loud enough to wipe all this flood of information (acoustic, also visual and smells also seem irrelevant then) I just feel the rhythm, focus deeply on some thought and then I fly like an arrow straight through the city, even if someone waves me, I wouldn’t wave back because don’t notice them. I’m out, in my own world. So I either constantly turn around and catch everything or I put the music and then I run like a horse with blinders on. I don’t know what is this but I figured it out that NT people don’t experience things this way. Is it something with ASD or ADHD? I removed all the clocks at home because they make the constant tick sound. My daughters toys also make awful sounds so at home I often wear earplugs. Usually when I sit with my family in the room, I’m the one to suddenly ask “what sound is this?” They have no idea what I’m talking about, they hear nothing, but I catch it immediately that there is some new sound, sometimes it’s at home, sometimes coming from outside. They ask me why I care, but I just wanna know what is this. I was pretty much alarmed when for first time I heard an electric car parking outside, I had to open the window to see and identify what was that. My family laughed at me.
I'm not sure if it's ASD, ADHD or both (I'm diagnosed ASD but was told I need to get an official diagnosis for ADHD as they're sure I have both)
I notice the slightest sounds, sometimes a noisy place can be soothing as it drowns out smaller sounds, But then at times I can be distracted by every sound I hear and find I'm trying to listen to them, but the other sounds are annoying me as they're getting in the way of me doing.
Sometimes I feel overloaded and need total quiet, but then as you say, sudden sounds become alarming.
Really depends on the moment. Popping headphones in can help but then the music can sometimes annoy me too. I find heavy metal /rock music soothing most times, I feel it's more "constant" so doesn't rattle my nerves.