Has your sensory sensitivty interfered with your work?

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Hey everyone,

So i just got word that i will soon begin grading beans at my job, very easy work, you just look for bad or cut beans along a converbelt, like a wheres waldo but with beans. I like doing things like that. However i heard word that the machinery is quite loud, like a washing machine times ten. This is a huge issue for me because i have a sound sensitivity.

I wouldnt say its severe but its sensitive enough to cause shutdowns. As a kid i USED to meltdown but now i go through sensory overload as a shut down.

A shut down for me is well, to put in simplist terms i am worthless when in a shutdown. I cant form a structured sentence, i cant understand people talking to me, i cant really see anything or tell whats going on around me, i have 0 reflexes. Its very hard. Just 1 hour at the shoppingg mall can cause overload i dont know what 9 hours in a loud warehouse will do.

Im already planning to get some noise cancelling headphones which i hope will help.

Is this something i should alert my boss? My diagnoses is already in my paperwork so hes aware of it but im not sure. Has anyone else had their sensory sensitivty affect their work?

I think having a chat with boss would be sensible if you have any concerns going into a new position / role.

Be careful when it comes to sounds that loud, ear defenders only help so much... If its truely that loud you will start "feeling" it in your body from the vibrations... Don't know how well you react to that.

All I can say is I suffer similarly and years ago I did a week at a china clay drying facility (super loud machines) and despite wearing industry grade ear protection, just the vibrations in the air were enough to make me more or less useless.

Just thought I'd put that out there for consideration, hope all goes well!

My sound sensitivities affect my work (also I'm ADHD, so very easy to distract). I wear earbuds and play music if I need to concentrate on something complicated. I'm not the only one to wear ear defenders or ear buds, so it's not really considered odd in my office. I prefer music to ear defenders, as a touch of ringing in my ears sometimes can be as distracting as outside noise.

This is one out of a handful of reasons I am jobless right now. I feel you and wish you the best.

I work with middle school students in a classroom setting, and I will have to say, having the kids yell and talk loudly all day pushed my sensory buttons. I'd get annoyed/ angry with the students and lose my temper a few times. It also would cause tension headaches (as I'd tense up all the time) and sometimes, migraines.

As for your job, I would say, A) let your boss know what your issues are and B) why you need the headphones on the line (as they can be a safety issue) . Other than that, I wish you all the luck & congratulations on your new job!!