Weird Sensory Stuff

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I haven't posted around here for a few months, but I was hoping that someone might be able to help me make sense of what I'm classifying as "weird sensory stuff." I do have some issues with sensory sensitivity - especially when it comes to certain noises - that are really annoying and sometimes difficult to deal with. But I think of those as "normal [hah!] sensory stuff."

Here's the "weird sensory stuff":

Sometimes this funny thing happens to my hearing. It's as if the sound of everything suddenly gets sort of hollow or muted or something - it's kind of hard to describe. It sort of fades out, but it's not just a decrease in volume, it also feels somehow hollow, or that's the best word I can think of at the moment. It's as if the "texture" - if that word can be applied to sound [not literally, I definitely don't have synesthesia] - or maybe timbre of all the surrounding sound changes. Then there's this high pitched metallic noise - that's not coming from anything - that goes on for anywhere between a few seconds to a few minutes then goes away. Then the hollowness sort of fades out and the sound of everything gradually returns back to normal.

Other weird sensory stuff, except this happens all the time essentially constantly, is these tactile sensations. They vary in intensity and in form but they're almost always there in one form or the other. The most common one (which is also happening as I write this) is this sensation on the top of my head. It's sort of a tingling/prickling sensation, and kind of feels like I've got warm wax moving around in different shapes on my scalp. Also hard to describe.

Has anyone experienced or heard of anything like these things? Do you know if it's related to Aspergers? or something else? Sometimes it weirds me out. Thanks for any help.

Maybe. At times, when I'm in deep thought, I just hear noise, the din of voices, when I'm in a crowded place such as a cafe. I have very acute hearing. It sounds like (no words to describe) tinkling waves of rush; they are voices and I do not know their words or meaning.

Then, at times bright lights, especially at night, have INTENSE rays and rings! Fractal patterns from icicles, raindrops, and glass fragments. It's mesmerizing. And the combination of visual/auditory can be overwhelming. Taken together, it the sense of math. Feels tactile.

I think sensory "weird stuff ," as you wrote, is much underestimated in AS. The reason it does matter is because our sensory experience is not like those of neurotypicals, I know, and this alone sets us apart; we are isolated and they cannot possibly begin to know, or why.

Maybe hardest in that sensory stuff is fluidic, so it's hard to know what to expect. I have to purposefully shut-off what I sense, at times, so I function "normally." On the other side - - so advantageous, in many respects!

Heh heh...phoenixflame22: We're extra-sensory! Yep, Aspies have ESP Sort-of.

Book by Olga Bogdashina you might like: Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome.

About the hearing thing -- I'm not sure if it's the same, but sometimes my hearing will fade out while a strong ringing fades in, and then after 10-20 seconds the ringing fades and normal hearing returns. I have no idea what it is, though I've wondered if it's blood vessels supplying a part of the brain or ear spasming or something (like a migraine).

My reasoning is that I have a condition where my blood pressure can drop until I lose consciousness, and the same fading-of-hearing-plus-increasing-ringing is what happens right before I pass out. (I mean it happens randomly without losing consciousness, as well as during losing consciousness.)

As far as the texture of sound dropping out, that could be mid-range frequencies dropping out (maybe try to simulate it with a graphic equalizer w/music, and see what the pattern looks like).

Have you had the auditory chdecked out? I have had instaznces of something at leAst close, but not consistent - and usually relatable to air pressure or congestion.

The ear thing is called tinitus. I have this too exactly as you described it. First the muting out sounds then it also sounds like a switch comes on and this metalic sounds comes in.

Some people with it hear, clanging, ringing, sometimes even musical sounds.

It is very anoying...earplugs do help, but if you put tin foil over your head and ears and it stops, then you have a bigger problem than just tinitus. But I wont tell you what it is unless you put tin foil over your head and it stops.

Jojo

sometimes durring the day if I enter a dark room and the blinds on the window are slightly open allowing some bright light in I get a little dizzy and nauseas. Teachers hated this because we would have to turn out the lights to watch the old film projectors and we had to have the blinds wide open or I would have to go the nurse for a lie down if they didn't leave them open.

We have blinds on our bathroom window so I have to turn on the light in the middle of the day before I enter the bathroom or I will get dizzy before I make it to the toilet.

I experience some weird thing like this but maybe its a bit different.

It happens only in one ear. Sometimes the sound fades out and other times its more sudden and feels like something flies into my ear and mutes everything for a bit. Some but I don't think always I hear the high pitched ring sort sound after the muteness. It generally doesn't last long and then goes back to normal.

it's weird but it doesn't cause me any prob.