Does noise sensory issues ever get better?
Title. Will this always be a problem for the rest of my life?
I have mild Aspergers and as a kid I always struggled with classroom noise in school, going to friend's parties or in any situation where there's lots of noises going on at once. And I still do now and I'm 20.
Noise sensory issues has been a serious problem with living with my family. I am sensitive to tones of voices and my dad has a very harsh, raspy voice and makes me overloaded, and that with the dog noise, loud children and babies next door meltdowns are commonplace.
I've found ear plus helps but they only block out so much especially at home. But they have been a life saver on public transport.
The catch is I want to have some sort of a social life, instead of being stuck inside avoiding this loud world. I don't really mind anymore going to these places on my own such as a mall but if someone else with me in a loud place I find it very difficult to understand them, because every sound around me is turned up to maximum. Crying babies are just the worst I don't know how parents cope
Will I always have this? And are there any strategies of how to feel comfortable around loud people? Often I've left social situations because men especially my age can be very loud I feel overwhelmed.
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Diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome (mildly)
It might improve if you start to go deaf. Not a very good solution though. I was toying with the idea of a combination of some very comfy earplugs and a hearing aid with volume and tone controls on it.
I don't think mine's got any better at all over the years. It actually seems to have got worse, but I think that's just because I wasn't aware of it as a physical sensory issue until fairly recently. My family was generally quite noise-averse, and tended to blame the noise-makers rather than see it as something about themselves. So I grew up thinking I was a "peace and quiet snob" like they appeared to be, and my first reaction to anybody making any noise that gets on my nerves is to think "you bastard!" After diagnosis I started to see that it was mostly just an unfortunate thing, that I can't bear certain sounds, and that there's nothing intrinsically wrong about the people who make them. I also realised that I've somehow managed to screen most noisy folks out of my life without ever knowing I'd done it. All the people I like and normally allow near me are fairly soft-spoken.
I think one thing that may help is being calm, or to put it another way, my noise sensitivity is worse when I'm tensed up. Of course it's not always easy to keep calm, but with a little luck, as time goes by, a given person will learn to relax more.
But my main fix for sound sensory issues is still to adjust my environment rather than myself.
As a child and a young adult I used to want to attack or melt down, when subjected to breathing- and eating sounds.
I tried to eat and breathe silently myself. That has gone.
In my childhood, loud sounds schocked me and gave me cramps. Later they just starteled me (I hate certain works by Lutoslawski).
Now, I do feel panic by the sound of large vehicles and motorbikes . Pounding heart and all.
I tend to stop in the middle of the traffic to cover my ears. OUCH! I better use plugs, or I´ll be run over one day.
So, I´d say, It has become MUCH better over the years, but I´m still pretty sensitive.
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Femaline
Special Interest: Beethoven
Last year, I had some impacted earwax in both of my ears, and I noticed that I could handle noisy environments a lot better, and this helped me cope better with my noise issues. However, I was constantly asking people to repeat things over and over again because I couldn't understand them as well. I eventually got the wax removed, and I was surprised how much wax the doctor pulled out of my ear. I had giant gobs of earwax the size of almonds come out of both ears. I had to wear earplugs for quite a while after that until I got used to the noise.
I don't think mine's got any better at all over the years. It actually seems to have got worse, but I think that's just because I wasn't aware of it as a physical sensory issue until fairly recently.
Unfortunately, my tolerance for excessive noise also seems to be getting worse. I've always had trouble differentiating speech from background noise, which I blame in part for my sometimes poor performance in school as a kid. But over the past 10-15 years, in particular, I've had a hard time with certain loud sounds. And even ones that aren't super loud (like the annoying trend of people listening to music or phone conversations in public places using their cell phone speaker) can drive me to distraction.
Maybe most people do get better at coping with time - I hope that's the case for you. In the meanwhile, you might want to carry earplugs or bring some earbuds to listen to your mobile device. There's a free app I use when traveling to fall asleep called "Nature Sounds" that has some nice, soothing noises like waterfalls and rain. It's also useful for drowning out ambient noise in public places.
Another thing I do is keep some earbuds on hand to plug into my laptop when I'm at the coffee shop. If you like jazz music, there are a few stations on Shoutcast, like "Dinner Jazz Excursion" that offer soothing music to drown out loud noise. If you can afford them, there are some nice, noise-canceling headphones on the market that are supposed to eliminate background noise altogether. Cheaper headphones will at least dampen sounds around you. I just got a decent pair for $25 that work pretty well.
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Formally diagnosed with ASD at the age of 43 (2014), I am the author of "Never One of Them: Growing Up With Autism," available through Amazon and most popular ebook sites.
My Official Facebook Page
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