Sound Sensitivity: Why should I get used to it?

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I can't stand high pitched noises such as fire alarms, car alarms, emergency sirens, people with treble high pitched music, motor mowers, people that scream and have high pitched voices, lots of people talking at once with music going.

I have moderate sensory issues that are often set off by sounds as common and innocent as someone laughing. And I was bullied too. I really do sympathize. It's not easy.

I also have a lot of stims that involve making noises with my mouth or hands. I try to keep it under control, but very often I don't even realize I'm doing it. And I know a lot of people who like to quietly sing to themselves or "beatbox" the drumbeat of a song in their mouth (where they think no one can hear, and most people can't) to enjoy the song in their head better. I do this as well. I'm even having trouble with my teeth being ground down because I tend to bang them together when I'm thinking of a song.

If I passed you in the street, would you want to start a fight with me? Would you think I was doing it on purpose? If someone brought the sound to my attention and said they know I probably don't mean it, but it's actually kind of annoying, I'd apologize and do my best to stop. If someone accused me of intentionally bothering them by making an innocent little sound I wasn't even fully aware of, I would not be likely to go out of my way to accommodate that person.

I'm sorry you were bullied. I've been through it too and it's terrible. But adult bullies do not do the same things as children. Adult bullies become managers and push their employees around, or start abusive relationships. They don't make noises with their mouths just to annoy someone they might have known in school. It simply doesn't happen. Especially since I doubt anyone would guess that it bothers you *that* much and think to do it just to hurt you. Most people wouldn't even hear that sound, let alone be bothered by it. Politely ask people to stop something you don't like and they will probably try. Rant and rave on the internet about how the world is unfair and nothing will change.

I also get highly offended when people tell me to "get used to it". It's stupid... They don't really know how difficult it is to have sensory issues and so they assume that it's apparently "not that bad". It's SO hard for us and other people just don't understand. "Get use to it" is a horrible thing to tell an aspie because it's something that we can't do. Well, I guess that we can kind of get used to getting angry, but getting used to the anger will never solve the problem. Neurotypicals can simply "get used to things" but they lack the ability to realize that we're so much different than them.

I'm working on getting a diagnosis and I have to convince my cousin that I have asperger's syndrome. She's always telling me "get used to being social", or "stop taking things so seriously when things change"... Uh, I have OCD... I can't help the way that I act with change. It's not something that I can simply get used to. I would LOVE to be able to get used to the things in the world that irritate me, but we just can't and I guess that others don't understand that.
I try to relate to her but she just doesn't get it. One time I told her, "In order for you to understand me, you have to first believe that my brain works in a way that's completely different than yours."... She refused to believe that (which was my point entirely). I guess that people can't really relate unless they also have an autistic spectrum disorder and know what it's like to struggle in a world where your thinking patterns are so alien to other people even though you may look "normal".

My Aspie husband does the same. He is with his guard up all the time. And that makes him make a lot of mistakes. He usually overreacts and gets extremely violent over small things. In more than one occasion he has put me in very uncomfortable and dangerous situations because he "cannot let it happen again". But because of that complex he makes things bigger than they are and put us in danger without need. The sad part is that I cannot even talk to him about this because he things I take sides with the other person. Dragging your past this far is not healthy.

It's the worst during the summer. Jackasses revving up their motorcycles so loud it sounds like the engine is gonna explode. Then the guys who blast their stereo.

Noises upset me very much and distract me from anything. I almost have a panic attack each time I hear a noise.
In a while, when I was hearing people eating, noises seemed so loud that I thought they do it intentionally to annoy me and to show me who's the boss.
Even now I'm thinking that by their noises they mark their territory. And maybe this is really what they intend to do because I noticed that each time somebody with more authority makes his appearance, people suddenly become more mannered and elegant in their gestures.
So they are aware somehow that their noises could bother and be unpleasant for others.
It is even worse when you tell them that their noises bother you but they keep making them and blame you instead for being too sensitive.
How convenient.

(I'm talking about people who really eat loud or do other noisy stuff but refuse to admit that THEY have a problem)

I know exactly what you mean. Silence is such a relaxing bliss. I lived in a rather quiet, rural area for the first 19 years of my life, and even there I had overloads when a neighbour mowed his lawn or used a chainsaw for an hour. Now I moved into a dorm in a rather big city. Not only is there always traffic noise (which isn't that bad), I don't get why my neighbours HAVE to slam their goddamn doors all day. Or stay up until 5 am (which they are welcome to do, of course) and TALK LOUDLY ON SKYPE until they finally go to bed (which makes me agressive). Or why there are always some drunk idiots coming home at 1, 3 or even 6 am, and why they drink so much until they have too little self control to shut the f*ck up and not scream and sing when everybody else is sleeping.

Sorry, reads like a rant. But honestly? This is the aspect of my AS that annoys me most. I just want silence for some time of the day. But that's just not possible right now. The last 5 nights I could only fall asleep with my computer on because the white noise of the fan drowned out most of the other noise. When I'm done studying I will hopefully earn enough money to move into a rural area again with no neighbours and only nature sounds all around. I'm a little afraid though that I'll be very tempted to never go anywhere else again, and become even more sensitive to sound.

I am hypersensitive too. But not to mouth noises. I am hypersensitive to really loud noises like fireworks. Every year I block my ears while I watch the fireworks so I can stand the sound. I also don't like the air show because of the loud air planes and jets. I hate ear plugs though because I have the fear of accidentally jamming them in my ears too tight and not being able to get them out so I just block them with my fingers. I also have to block my fingers when I use public and school restrooms. This is because when I was 2 years old, I was put on an automatic toilet and the scanner went off before I was done so I got sucked into the bowl for a minute. This is why toilets is my phobia. But aside from that the noise scares me so I always block my ears when I pea in case other noises occur (hand dryers, other toilets flushing, loud doors slamming etc.). I also have to block my ears when I flush the toilet too so if it's a lever then I kick it gently with my foot so I can block them.

Also, yesterday the leaves were falling down and touching the house/gutters. Every leaf that fell made me jump. I was really nervous and I couldn't just relax because the leaves were constantly falling and the noise continued to startle me. This is unusual for me but it happened. I was really hypersensitive so I know what you mean. The noise doesn't hurt me so to speak just startles me a lot. I was hoping that either the leaves would stop falling on the house making that noise or that something would distract me from it.

hi my name is gregor krause and i wanted to tell you about something that sticks in my mind forever because of my sound sensitivity due to asperger's, shunted and spina bifida, one day my aide told me in advance that there will be a firedrill and my mom had an accommodation that i be removed from the building prior to one and when this happened the first time I asked my aide if i would be removed from the school building prior to one and to my surprise she said no so years later in adulthood, living in my own apartment and yes with the dreaded thing called a fire alarm i relived that moment and worse the 2nd time the aide at my school forced me to sit through a firedrill it was in the hallway near the freakin loud bell and when the fire alarm went off it made me jump and before the alarm went off i was forced to do cursive writing for some reason and i think that the whole IEP was violated what do you think?

Because you can't control the actions of people around you.

I hate any kind of loud noise....i pick up on background noise all the time..it always stresses me out..shouting loud laughing kids in the street even playing around get's to me..i just can't cope with noise full stop..very difficult in a world FULL of noise

I´ve got some ear plugs, measured to my ear, lowering the noise around 45 dB, specially in high and low frequences (electircity hissing = high or stomping on the ceiling = low).

If you wanted to steal them from me, i´d fight to the death. My company and my office had been in an very quiet spot, but they built as one of europes biggest trucker company in front of us and a collegue was retired and the newcomer always is chatting very loud. I was already on medication due to nervous breakdown because of the noise, and wanted to quit my job which was very hard for me to find. These earplugs have been my life saver.

This is the dominant problem of my life. The sensitivity to mouth noises and gum popping has made college tremendously difficult for me. Really don't know what to do, and I can't believe this type of behavior is permitted in lecture classes. All of my learning has to be done outside classes when this happens, because even though I am present my mind is completely unfocused. One time I asked a student who was sitting in the front row if he would please stop popping the gum when lecture started, I expressed to him that this is an unusual request and it is completely a personal problem of mine not his, but would be grateful if he did not pop it during lecture. He actually agreed, and we have since become lab partners. So some people are very understanding and willing to cooperate. Others will take advantage of this knowledge and use it to aggravate.