how do NT hear compared to us?

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for me when i hear a loud noise or a sudden noise i jump easily, and even after it happens if it happens like a few mins or a second later i jump again even if im aware of it. is this common in AS?

but back on topic.

how do NT hear?

Yes, I think it sounds like sensory sensitivity, which is common in AS. NTs are bothered by sounds too, but often not nearly as much as us.

ive never seen a NT jump or anything with loud noise or anything.

i think they are bothered by noise is bc i think they just get annoyed by it. bc in general when someone keeps hearing something over again they can get annoyed.

What your describing isn't an autistic thing or an NT thing, it's not even a human thing, it's something that happens to all animals. Loud unexpected noises typically make people jump, raises their heart rate and activates the fight or flight response, it's a defense mechanism that prepares us incase that loud noise is cause by something that might harm us. Some people are more 'jumpy' than others but from what I can tell having ASD doesn't make someone any more or less 'jumpy' than an NT.

I know two people who are jumpy--neither are anywhere close to the autistic spectrum.

I dont personally but i guess thats because im a mechanic, i spend most of the week surrounded by loud noises

its not just that i think its more that the pain i get from noise that makes me jump with most NT dont have.


plus i jump even over the little noise possible. hearing a boing, hearing something fall, most people dont jump to those even. they may hear it and wonder what was that but they would most likely never jump to it.


I EVEN JUMP TO SOMEONE COUGHING OR SNEEZING.

Jumping after hearing a unexpected noise (however small) is perfectly normal as I explained, experiencing pain from it could likely be a separate issue possibly connected to sensory sensitivity issue more common in autistic people. Personally, the hypersensitivity issue I experience typically just manifest in heightened irritability and physical anxiety and are only caused by continuous noises.

I agree with this. Jumping and getting sudden realization isn't really, atleast I don't think, a part of Asperger's but more of human's in general. For me, I am very sensitive to noise usually when its in the form of an instrument of a song that I do not anticipate and/ or just cannot stand. I too get physical anxiety from this. For example, the graduation song has certain pieces to it that use an instrument with a very high frequency that made hearing it extremely uncomforting/ miserable.

I wonder if the level of discomfort is simply less severe for NT's, than for us?

For example, right now I hear a bird chirping very quietly in the distance, and it's a little distracting, but okay.

But when the neighboring kids are playing outside my window, shrieking at the top of their lungs... Maybe to a normal person, the level of distraction is equal to what I feel with the quiet bird chirping? But to me, the kids shrieking is unbearably painful, even with earplugs in, and I don't understand how anyone within a mile radius could possibly tolerate that.

I'm just guessing... Imagine a quiet sound that's only slightly distracting, and maybe that's how NT's hear everything?

I believe that most autistic people are more senstive to sensory (or more literally, loud noises), compared to some nt people.

I anticipate sudden noises what I know are going to happen. Like if I'm in a room with a dog that is likely to bark at noises us humans can't really hear, I really cannot relax.

It depends how much stress I'm having at the time, how much anxiety I have and how much sleep I've had. After a weekend of work without much sleep, I jump at every little thing. This happens a lot - I'll be doing my homework and really involved with no noise going on at all and then my dumbass neighbor "the Biatch" will slam her front door real hard unexpectedly. Waldo even jumps at that. She's a freaking nut

Jumping at a sudden loud noise is a natural fight-or-flight response. You can give "everyone" a shock with a loud bang, when they're relaxed and don't expect it

As for how NT's hear... I think I have a pretty good idea of the difference...
Normally I don't have problems with my good hearing. But, right now, I have increased senses, as a side effect of medication.
I hear so many subtle details, which I never noticed before. It's like all the barely audibly sounds are boosted to the same level as the typical audible sounds.
Some sounds, like doing the dishes (by hand) is really uncomfortable and almost painfully loud.

I've known NTs who are the nervous types to jump a lot at almost any sudden noise, and look completely startled afterwards.

But the difference between jumpy NT people and myself is that I get really anxious if I'm in a situation where I know a sudden loud noise will occur. Like at my old volunteer job there was a bell that would ring when somebody was at the back door with donations, and it made me jump every time. Although it often made everybody else jump too, it made me more anxious. I would even worry about it before I even arrived, and I'd make sure I wasn't near the bell the whole time I was there, which was sometimes impossible.

Also at school the bell practically ruined my school life. The science labs had an unnecessarily loud bell, and so I hated science class. Kids used to set the fire alarm off unexpectedly, and so every science lesson I would be anticipating it, even though coincidentally it never actually happened during science.

This may sound strange but the bell was what made me most anxious through school more than anything else.