Hypersensitvity to Sound in Certain Settings

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I don't mind noise too much when it's in a noisy environment, but in a quiet setting where you can hear a pin drop, someone sniffing or clearing their throat is enough to make me pull my hair out. Sniffing and throat clearing in general disgusts me for some reason, and I feel guilty because I yelled at guy yesterday because he had a cold and kept on sniffing during a test we were taking.

Or when you're trying to sleep and you can hear high heel foot steps and someone eating at 11pm at night? I almost smashed my clock for ticking so softly when I was trying to sleep.
But I don't like noisy environments also.

Haha the throat thing made an ad about throat problems.

I don't like it when people are trying to talk to me when there is alot of background noise or else I just say, "what?" all the time. I honestly can't hear them even if I have good hearing, just cant separate the sounds.

heh, thats how I am too, and when I say what, I piss people off. Also of note, I wont hear the loud stuff, the softer noised i make out MUCH clearer, so the existence of my hearing ability breaks down peoples walls of privacy (for example I wont hear my mother and sister yell upstairs to me when dinner is done, but yet i can hear my sister mumble bout her breasts being too big. So yeah my ability to hear soft noises over the loud has lead to many awkward and or embarrassing situations.

If you get intense anger or disgust around certain sounds you might want to look into misophonia. I have misophonia for eating noises as well as a bunch of other mouth noises. And also hate several other things related to mouths or eating.

when i was a tot, i was very sensitive to the high-pitched whistle the vacuum cleaner made, i would plug my ears and hum to try to block it out, i would run into another room to get away from the noise. my older brother knew this and tortured me with various noisemakers, including the gawdawful "BEEPBEEP!! !" horn on my toy car i was given for my birthday. i loved that car but everytime i got into it my older bro would immediately make a beeline for that goddamned horn and lean into it, making me jump out of the car and run away. so my parents thought i was afraid of the car and took it back to the store. i was sore over that, but i could not tell them it was my older brother and that infernal horn that scared me, not the car!

later on, i noticed at military funerals [ex-army] i was the only one who would flinch when they did the rifle salute- that sharp crack was painful but i could not stand there with my ears plugged, decorum was to maintain the position of attention. working in the OR, the sterilizers made a loud hiss when they charged-up, that made me plug my ears. i also have long been sensitive to tape hiss in audio recordings, in addition to phonographic crackles and pops [like little gunshots] which ruin records for me. my snoring is loud enough to occasionally wake me up with a start.

thankfully, i seem to have great tolerance for other people's biological noises. in the army barracks i slept right through other sleeping GIs sawing logs to beat the band. the only thing that would wake me up was other folk yelling and cussing out the snorers.

This is also called "Selective Sound Sensitivity Syndrome" (or "4S") by Dr Johnson, an American audiologist, who has researched this phenomenon extensively over the last 15 years. Some resources are:

http://audiology.advanceweb.com/Article ... drome.aspx
http://www.soundsensitive.org/
http://www.misophonia-uk.org/

The issue is not so much the term itself, as the fact that the audiologist who coined "misophonia" was mostly studying people with tinnitus and hyperacusis, while Dr Johnson has focused on the much larger number of people who don't have these conditions, partly by finding sufferers on the Internet who haven't been to an audiologist. She found that the mainstream (non-tinnitus) sufferers tend to develop the symptoms around age 8-13, it often runs in families, and it is very difficult to shift with current psychological treatments (CBT, desensitisation) or with medication. She believes it is most likely to be an inherited neurological condition.

Whatever this condition is called, it is poorly understood by psychologists and doctors in general, and is often mistaken for OCD or a phobia. The treatments for OCD and phobias are not effective for this sound sensitivity, however, perhaps because it might be inherited and neurological, rather than a learned psychological reaction. The OT treatments for sensory integration disorder also do not appear to be effective for treating this condition. About the only effective treatment is masking sounds by wearing sound generators or earphones playing "pink noise" or similar sounds. CBT can be useful in learning how to manage the condition, but it does not cure the sharp, almost instinctive, reaction to the trigger sounds.

I have had this condition since I was 12, and I am now middle-aged. My triggers are people slurping hot drinks or soup, the sound of people pouring or stirring hot drinks (the dribbling and the "ringing a bell" sounds), eating/chewing noises, whistling, and many other soft but distinctive noises. The sight of people eating with their mouth open, or chewing gum also affects me. I am also somewhat sensitive to other sensory input, e.g. I keep the fluorescent lights in my office switched off because I find them too bright (no one else does). I have a strong, almost overwhelming fear of heights. I find loud "busy" environments a bit overwhelming too - cars passing by, loud motorcycles, trains coming into stations, etc. Peace and quiet - that is what I crave. Bucket loads of peace and quiet!

Check this out: http://soundsensitive.org/index.php?opt ... &Itemid=82 There are true stories and I could write them all
Am sensitive to sounds people make with their mouth (well speach is acceptable ). Chewing, slurping, gulping, hickup, coughing, biting nails (this is a horror), clicking teeth (it can drive me mad). Also don't like the sound of typing (except it's me ).
I don't tell people about it because I realise I make similar sounds (although I try my best not to produce them) and they'd think am rude. I know it is too difficult for them to understand it. That's life. Sigh...

I am bothered by quiet noises as well. At work I have a nice office, which I share with 1 person. Its a really quiet environment except when my office mate decides to type. Its difficult for me to concentrate then.

When I lived in a cubicle farm, all that noise didn't bother me, unless there was music they had playing at a volume that was too low.

I'd guess this would have something to do with autistic sensory perception / processing. Disclaimer: I'm not formally diagnosed, but asperger's does seem to fit me and explains alot.

The noises the dog makes drive me nuts. And there are certain electronic devices that I can hear this high pitch (I almost feel it instead of hear it) that no one else seems to, that annoy me.

I have hypersensitivity to sound in all settings, but there are times when it gets worse. If I'm in a crowded room & hear a noise such as a siren, motorcycle, or other loud noise, I will become even more anxious over it than usual. I get anxious around people in general, so if I'm already in a heightened sensory state from being around people, things that normally bother me are magnified.

some other noises that I specifically notice that other people dont. And yeah, I tend to feel alot of sounds as well, but it has never caused issues, the most i get is a light-moderate vibration sent through me.

Electrical wires/systems: this is the big one for me. I hear humming/buzzing whenever im around electrical devices, even little ones like solid state MP3 players, battery operated flashlights and such. Sometimes it gets to the point (like with refrigerators), where the sound gets to such a high pitch my ears get sore.

Whispering: I can accurately make out what has been said from up to like a 100 or so feet away, and I can hear it through walls.

I find that I am not sensitive to any particular sound type, but can be sensitive to any sound - it depends on the situation. For example, if I am sitting relaxing and just watching a group of kids / people in a room making lots of noise, I have no problem. But, if I am trying to focus at all on something - for example typing on the computer - it drives me NUTS. Yet I can listen to loud music - something like metal or rap - no problem. I often do that in fact - put on headphones to block out the noises around me when I am working.

I have not really figured out the other criteria when noises bother me - sometimes it is in the morning - I am cooking breakfast and I have to tell people to quiet down. Other times it does not phase me.

I know a couple other Aspergers people that are similar with sound sensitivities.

I find that I'm very sensitive to loud voices and loud music. The two things that I have to deal with, if I want to sit in the lounge, of my clubhouse. There's one guy who's always strumming on his guitar, and singing Rolling Stones songs. I would like to sit in the lounge and listen to the radio, or my CDs, but he's always on his guitar, singing, so I'm always in the communications room, on WP, listening to oldies on YouTube.

Thanks for all the replies. The funny thing is that when I try to make out words, I can't hear them properly, but I hear just about everything else. I have to tap my feet and clang my utensils whenever I eat in a quiet place because eating sounds are enough to make me lose my appetite.

I wonder what it would be like to meet other people who can't stand eating sounds and eat with them Maybe I meet them, but I don't know about it and they also don't know about me since I don't tell them (except closest family, but they don't have problems with loud eaters at all). I lose my appetite just like you. I used to turn up tv then or choose the most chrisping food so I could hear only me eating
To tell the truth am doing slightly better now. Don't know why. Maybe because am more concerned about my problems.
Warm regards, Julia!