Aspies' sensitivity to high-pitched sounds

Post Reply New Topic

High-pitched squeaking and squealing sounds drive me nuts, they are almost painful.

I did this exact same thing. Wrote several pages about my grudge against (rage & fear towards the sensory aspects of) smoke/carbon monoxide detectors, on another forum. I'd re-post it here, but it's so incredibly long it would be annoying for people here. Titled thread "Mechanical Screaming Barnacle"-because that's what I call the alarm/detector pod-thing on my ceiling.
http://asdgestalt.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1958&start=0
(part of one of my comments):
"the last time it went off (3 years ago) I couldn't make it stop blaring & I beat it with my long walking stick until the unit flew off the ceiling-that shut it up good. I remember thinking "I'm having a total "Rainman" moment/reaction here"-and the noise really is this severe, intense, excruciatingly painful & panic-inducing for me. LITERALLY, it DISABLES me. Like some "death-ray" from a science fiction work, that scrambles one's brains with unbearable sounds/acoustic sensations, frequencies, volume levels. I felt physically threatened by the smoke detector when it went off-not cognitively appraised as a threat, but viscerally experienced, sensed, felt imperiled by what the unit was doing (and trying to push some button, that I can't reach without standing on furniture which I have to bring from the other room, didn't work to cease the alarm)."

I don't mind loud so much, I guess because I spend a lot of my time at gigs in a loud environment. I can't handle feedback through PAs though... uuuuuuuuugh that makes me flinch and run outside haha. Thank God for noise-blocking earplugs.

Have any of you come across a Mosquito yet? The ones they're using in the UK to ward off groups of chavs from carparks etc? They sit them on buildings and they emit a frequency that's horrible for anyone under 20, but apparently anyone over 20 can't hear it. I'm dreading the day I come across one as I know I'll be able to hear it and it'll be awful.

Normal mozzies are bad enough, I can't sleep if there's one in my room, I turn into a mad woman on a mission...! !

Picture tubes and vehicle noises really perturb me.

Speaking of the Mosquito..
They can affect Auties and Aspies of any age,a few NTs in their twenties,thirties and beyond.

Am have just got back from staying at parents home over the weekend,and have found that some b********d has installed a mosquito device somewhere near,am was in agony in the garden until dad dragged am in.
At first am thought it was one of the neighbours using a anti cat device [which also works] and as cats are always crapping in their garden,but it turns out it's not them,have no idea where it's coming from.
There's a row of shops at the end of the street and one of them is always having problems with gangs,so it could be them [dad is asking them tomorrow] or it could be the building site behind the home,but he said builders wouldn't need to use one.
Either way,this isnt fair,if find out who it is,am going to get a guy called Martin White involved [like a legal guy without the authority] as he's always helped am out with other autism affected stuff.

They shouldn't be allowed to use them,they are also saying those affected are automatically guilty so can be discriminated against in this way,they wouldn't be allowed to do it to any other groups.
And why is the NAS not yet involved against them? am still only hear childrens groups campaigning against them.


As for original topic,not aspie but have same issue with high pitch noises and most other noises.
Am do not cope with it well at all and am wearing earplugs with eardefenders most of the time,sensory setoffs cause daily meltdowns and seizures within them,the managers are getting specialists in to discuss getting every bit of own bedroom professionally soundproofed and the window tripple glazed,the LD CPN am have has mentioned a pair of studio earplugs that musicians wear but said they cost a lot,she's looking into whether they would be effective enough,and am getting own car [through the motability scheme] which will also help against the complete inaccessibility of public transport in terms of sensory.


One of the best and worst things today for Auties and Aspies [and others on spectrum or hypersensitive NTs] is technology, it can be well liked,or sensory torture,it seems it's either great or really bad.

I ususally just listen to my mp3 player whenever any noise is bothering me. If I can ignore it, however, I just ignore it.

Televisions make this constant, high-pitched sound when they are on. It's always bothered me. When I was younger, it would actually make me feel sick. Now I've more or less gotten used to it. I've met few, if any, people who can even hear this sound.

I hate things like pep rallies or other social gathering like them, because when they start to cheer my left ear can only hear white noise like on a blank t.v. channle until people quiet down.

I nearly had a meltdown in church today because this baby wouldn't stop crying. I just got up in te middle of it and walked around outside for ten minutes. That's the way to do it, if you can get away from the noise, go away. If not, headphones! Especially sound-isolating.

I know I HATE that!! !
Why can't they ether quiet their baby down OR take the baby outside so other people don't have to listen to it!! !
My cousin's church has a quiet room where you take your babies/children so the don't disturb the other church goers but the idiots DON'T EVEN USE IT!! !
I see like maybe one or two babies in the room the other 57395 babies are in the Pews!! !

Darn it! As soon as I read this, I started hearing it.

Try to avoid balloons and fireworks at all costs; I also don't go to rock concerts, or things like that.

For some reason though, movies don't really bother me; if there's a really loud sound in it, that I'm sort of expecting, I just cover my ears.

For the past few years, many of the popular girl idols I see on TV speak with high pitched voices. When I hear one of them speak, I find I just can't stand the high pitch, even when they aren't saying anything particularly annoying.

I've heard of that before. Some group should sue. That is discrimination. I don't know if I've ever actually encountered one but once at the library by the dvds I heard a horrible high pitched noise that probably sounds like what they sound like. I couldn't wait to get out of there.

I hate smoke detectors. When I was a kid they didn't even beep and let out a horrible continuous screech. When it went off I would run and hide with my hands over my ears. Eventually my mother took the battery out and we didn't have a working smoke detector probably for the past 25 or so years. Recently my landlord put 3 smoke detectors and a carbon monoxide detector in my small apartment. I don't like those either but at least now they have a button to turn them off and they are low enough that I can reach them so I don't have to take the batteries out.

I appreciate the Japanese culture, but I don't understand why most Japanese females have such high-pitched voices.

Where do you hear these female voices? On TV, in DVDs or from another source?