Noise. Is anyone else really bothered by it?

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I was in the Mac store the other day waiting to speak to one of their Geniuses. The din from the hundreds of people conversing at the same time annoyed me to death and made me jumpy for the hour-and-a-half I waited. I didn't have a decibel meter, but I knew it was really high. Yet, NT's were there having one-on-one tutorials in the midst of this with no problem. People talking over each other is something that annoys me a lot. I prefer one on one conversation, not group interaction, where people talk over each other and don't seem to mind. They also laugh easy. I don't. Situations like that dive me away, back to my office usually, where I can be alone and gather my thoughts. Loud music through my headphones is desirable, however. I have control then.

I have lots of trouble with noise. I find it intrusive, distracting, and in some cases painful in a way that has nothing to do with loudness.

My brain "hears" all sounds as equally important, which means that normal office hubbub becomes very hard to deal with. Going to the mall is overwhelming.

Exactly. I can't block out noise. I hear it all. And it's just like you describe....intrusive, distracting and yes painful but in a way that has nothing to do with loudness. That describes it perfectly.

I also often have to mute the TV when talking to my husband. I just can't filter out the TV and sometimes I feel like the TV is too loud for me to talk over, even when it's not very loud. My voice does tend to be deeper for a female and somewhat monotone.

some does. it also depends on how sensitive i am at the moment.

i like having the tv on low volume in the background. but i cant stand to hear other people listening to it from another room. especially loud sound affects/action films.

i like noisy places, provided they arent loud. i like being able to tune into everything

but it can be annoying. if my teacher is telling me something, and a car horn or anothe rperson starts talking at te same time, my attention is suddenly split. this is distracting and frustrating.

also, whistles hurt sometimes, so do certain pitches of people's voices (my sister's excited or irritated voice is unfortunately in the wrong note. XD)......clapping crowds sometimes make me cover my ears in pain.

Today was TERRIBLE for noise. The people in the corridor were being so noisy, possibly the noisiest I've ever heard them, and then some stupid girl stepped on my foot because she was busy PLAYFIGHTING with someone. In the DOORWAY TO THE CLASSROOM. Which of course put me in a very bad mood...and then when we get inside, the teacher YELLS at the class for making so much noise!

I hate teachers who yell at people for being noisy, it's plain hypocrisy, and hurts my ears just as much, if not more, than the original noise.

And then this annoying boy was whistling through a pen-lid (which was really hurting my ears), and wouldn't stop when I told him to, so I told the teacher (I don't normally tell on people, but I was at my wit's end), and the teacher sent him out of the room luckily, but the rest of the class were still being noisy.

I was nearly in tears by the end of that lesson.

I'm not bothered by things like loud music (unless I'm trying to work), but the "people" noise really bothers me.

I have kind of an opposite viewpoint on it. I grew up completely surrounded by noise constantly, tvs were always on, people were always talking, and even here in college, I seemed to habitually surround myself with noise. But now that I'm looking at it from a new viewpoint, I tried shutting out the noise, turning off my tv, wearing headphones, etc. and I feel extremely relaxed in silence. I guess I always just accepted noise being a bother as a normal thing growing up and got past it, though now that I know silence is good I'll probably start getting bothered by noise ^^;

Those low, whining noises made by weed wackers, leaf blowers, and lawn mowers are enough to make me go ballistic.

I live in a housing development with one of those "homeowner associations", where we all pay a fee to employ a landscape crew and other things like that. These guys come around with leaf blowers all the time, and it drives me nuts. First of all, who cares if there are leaves on the ground? Those leaf-blowers are just awful for the environment, as far as air pollution goes. But even aside from that, this one guy blows the leaves in short bursts, so instead of making one continuous loud sound, it's, "VVRRMMM!! ... VVVRRRRMMMM!! ! ... VRRRRRRRRRRRRMM!! ! ... VRRMMM! ...Vrrmm! ... Vrrrm! ...VVVRRRRMMMM!!" It's enough to drive anyone batty.

How much effort does it take to use a flipping broom or rake? It might take a little longer, but they could hire another guy or two. I'd be willing to pay a slightly higher fee if it meant I don't have to listen to that noise, and pay for something that spews more CO2 into the air. People need jobs, anyway.

For a while, I was getting up real early and going for morning walks. Even at dawn, you can't go anywhere without hearing a leaf-blower or weed-whacker. On top of that, we live about two inches away from an international airport, so every minute or so, there's an airplane. I'm mostly immune to them, though.

That would drive me insane.

We moved to the country for quiet. My whole existance has revolved around trying to find peace. And it is rather peaceful out here compared to the city but there's still stupid crap I'd rather not have to hear. Like shooting. The shooting goes on quite a bit out here and it's very startling.

I dream of a day we can finish our basement. I will be so happy to hide down there all day.

I'm bothered by noise when the environment doesn't call for it, like my own home. I always end up living with noisy people. Restaurants should be as noisy as the music on the speakers and conversation. When someone brings in their screaming child and does nothing about it, I get very irritated. If I go to a bar then I expect a lot of loud conversation. That doesn't bother me.

I think some people are hyposensitive. They must actually enjoy that racket!


No wonder there are so many people with weight problems. They can't do anything without using some type of machine. that's why there is so much noise pollution. I can't even stand to use an electric can opener, because it makes so much noise.



I live near an airport, too. I especially hate it when they fly really low, and shake everything. Otherwise, they don't really bother me. What does, is the police helicopters. They sometimes circle and circle until I want to scream!

Almost anything annoys me sound wise (Extremely sensitive), the best I can do it drown out stuff with load headphones. Except magnetic fields... I am convinced those are related to my hearing, ever since I was young I am extremely sensitive to electrical boxes, power lines, certain monitors, things with shorts, or grounding things like tv on standby. It manifest as a annoying humming like a bee buzz, larges sources, like power lines and transformers, also have an even more annoying continuous clicking. Some places, are putting out devices that produce an nasty hum, I am told I am not supposed to here those but I do. Oh course my hearing is also hyper-sensitive. So days it is so bad I just honestly wish I was deaf, I have to have boards around my bead, and ear plugs to sleep at night. I get overloaded with yelling, are changing volumes, multiple sources make me actually dizzy (Large crowds, meeting rooms with multiple discussion). I can't seem to filter anything either.

A question though, does anyone know if there are any like hearing aide manufacture that make a hearing aide that can cancel/block out or blunt frequency ranges?

Wow, you are sensitive! Do you also find that microwave ovens and cell phones are unbearable? I do. I got rid of my cordless phone and microwave, and gave up using a cell phone - not because of noise, but because the side of my face felt oddly numb after holding a cell or cordless phone up to it for long. I got odd tingly sensations if I was in the same room with a microwave oven in operation. I can't stand electric blankets for long, either.

I find higher frequency cell phones and portables easier to deal with, 900mhz, ie: smartphones, wifi rounter, newer portables, they seem to be better shield now too. However, when there charging they can be annoying. and don't get me started about UPS (Universal power supplies).

The worst place to be for me is a hospital though. with all the isolated power things that I hear, with the constant beeping, humming, it quickly drives me insane. Funny thing was the last time I was in for angioplasty (I have several heart defects as well), the doctor was able to give me something, that messes with my ability hear, for that matter it was messed with all my senses. and nearly shut them down.

Also interesting note though, the magnetic field thing seems not just to be a part of your hearing though it's a component, it seems related to touch as well, because you can feel it in you if it's strong enough, like if your 500kev high tension power poles, the magnetic field is strong enough to be fully felt, as weird as that sounds, other than the hum and clicking in my ears, the feeling I get in my body, is somewhat good feeling (Sort of warm, calming feeling), What's really weird about the warmth you feel is in addition to the outside surroundings, so you can like feel the fields warmth, and the outside temperature, which is really weird but interesting sensation during the winter months.

Noise really drives me crazy to the point it can hurt. I've often had to leave restaurants or cafes because I know that another moment longer and I feel I'd explode or is it implode?!


I live on a small property in the country and find the gentle natural sounds of wind in the trees, bird song, cows lowing, goats bleating and even the rooster crowing music to my ears. The sounds of nature except for thunder I really enjoy.
Machine noises are the worst......power tools, jack hammers, and basically most man made noises are too unbearable. Music is fine if it is not loud, not boom boom stuff or probably that thud thud low sound.


If I'm stressed out then even seemingly benign noises art OTT.

Im good if there is a steady hum (general crowds like in stores and malls), but if i can distinctly hear more than one conversation (say when family and friends get together) . . . i have to walk out in an attempt to avoid a meltdown. Same deal with some music (and ASD friend of mine likes Static X music, but when he played it, felt like needles were piercing me). Granted, my issue seems to compound in areas where sound can echo and amplify (another ASD acquaintance of mine, not to be insulting, but his voice reverberates a lot and in the echoing room it etched my nerves).