Noise or loud music

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I get quite confused about this. I hate noises, i really rant and become hateful to neighbours who don't mind letting the car alarms run amok several times a day. I can be shocked and irritated by motorbikes whizzing past me...I hate fire crackers noise ( what is the fun for NTs to have that noise??).

But then I can put my music loud at times. What is the difference? isn't it a contradiction??

Last edited by Loborojo on 12 Oct 2008, 11:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The difference to me sounds like control.
I'm not a fan of loud, seemingly unneccesary noises but I can put on my ipod and drown out the rest of the world.

I thik different people can have different responses. I hate loud trucks, hairdryers, and motorcycles. I don't mind firecrackers though; the loud booming fireworks are more difficult.

The music is something you choose to hear. The rest is stuff you must tolerate, therefore annoying.

I can't stand many loud noises and that includes music. My least favorite noise is the vacuum cleaner, I absolutely hate it. I also hate the sound big trucks make when they drive by, people talking too loud, high pitch noise, and many other noises. I like humming noises to an extent but there are few other sounds that I don't mind.

Here is something interesting about me:


I can do well in a noisy environment if I am expecting it to be that way. But if I wasn't expecting it, then I get a sensory overload.


Lot of talking at the table overwhelms me because it is too loud but if I have something with me that keeps me company, then the noise doesn't bother me. My occupational therapist came up with that when I was 12 and encouraged my parents to have me bring a book with me to read and then they encouraged me. They could now talk in a restaurant and not have me tell them "You're too loud" and then they have to whisper. It just made it easier for my whole family and for me.

At 17 I was a punk rocker and the decibels were quite high, and yet I cannot stand a sledgehammer or construction work noises, drilling in the streets, a leaking spout (irritates me), loud rap music n restaurants, however I could enjoy dancing on loud music in discos...I just don't get it

Noise is the reason that I hardly go anywhere. Malls, for example, are horrible. I only shop on-line, if I can help it. I've got a sorta soundproof apartment. The "noise" to add to silence would be a Mozart flute sonata. But not too loud.

Once again, you describe tolerance for sound you initiate and irritance for sounds you cannot control. Honestly, this kinda "sounds" like life. What's to "get"?

And what restaurants are you going to that play loud rap music?

I mean, I have been diagnosed with apsperger and I reead everywhere that apsies don't stand noise, hence my question why can i stand loud music but not noise??

I liv ein Peru and people just love noise when they eat, the TV is always on in the reataurants (when football matches are on I have ot hide or get deaperate to find a restaurant without TV) and have either cumbia or hip hop on or louds soaps? I think either I am abnormal or NTs are deaf and disturbed...

you're prepared for it vs. it being a surprise

I have this problem and a lot of people say the same thing to me. 'why can you cope with your own Ipod/music but not tolerate when someone else plays theirs?' Although I cannot give a definitive answer, I think it is to do with the element of control. If I get upset or irritated by a particular song/TV programme etc. I can just up and switch it off, however if someone else has music on I have no control over it and it brings on panic attacks. I know it sounds kinda selfish and probably is, but thats just the way I am and I am trying hard to deal with it. I agree about the whole rap/hip-hop thing, doesnt sound like music to me, just irritating noise.

Well, I usually need constant noise, otherwise I start to get uncomfortable/creeped out, and I freaking blast my ipod. However, I hate the sound of fireworks, they can almost send me into an instant meltdown if someone's shooting them off up close. The thing is I can't handle sudden really loud unexpected sounds. Oh, also sometimes if too many people are talking at once, (like at a party with a lot of people) I get sensory overload from that too.

The difference is that the incoming noise you describe is sudden and probably a lot louder than a bit of music, therefore more intrusive. Also it can happen at any time of day or night, whereas your music is (I presume) restricted to the day and evening.

Not knowing how long an intrusive sound is going to go on for, or when it's going to happen again. Knowing that noise pollution is increasing as the population increases, and increasing as technology puts ridiculously loud devices into the hands of the masses. Control does enter into it, since you can always turn off your own music if you get tired of it, but there's more to it than that.

It's complicated - your own music volume and time is probably negotiable, but others might not be interested in any compromise at all. And the law is often unwilling to adjudicate unless the problem is really excessive and becoming chronic. In the UK, I gather noise from car music systems is not actionable if it happens before midnight, but the same noise from a house is actionable.

Best answer is a soundproof home if you can afford it. I knew a guy who lived in a soundproofed garage where he could make as much noise as he liked without annoying anybody, and the general public could make as much noise as they wanted without it bothering him at all.

Music isn't such a problem however the latest music is pony (crap) noises for me is quite annoying.

no, i have this too- its interesting. i never annoy other people with my own music, as its ill mannered, and i complain when i am bothered, but i do LOVE to listen to loud music. mkusic sounds nice, beautiful to the person who likes it. if you hvae synesthesia, you can also get physical sensations from it- mozart makes me feel like im in love, sometimes!! !

but loud music v external noise is not just 'control' as simply as it sounds.

noises from outside, be it people, cars, road works are variable- they are uncertain. they also tend to be acoustically rougher, nastier noises- car alarms are designed to be unpleasent.
one is unsure of when its going to end, will resume.

the control thing is true to some extent, but relates to aspieness thinking- if im doing something, or even nothing, i hate to be distubed. constant noise means im constantly distracted from it.
there is also the element of surprise here- aspies often hate to be disturbed. aspies tend to be poor multi-taskers, enjoy being absorbed in something, and hate surprise- (writing lists, planning everything).
control is only a small part- it sounds and feels physically horrible, it stops you thinking, and i dislike teh uncertanty- when will it end? will it start again?? am i going to freak out??

the body relates to really loud noise by going into the flight/ fight response, as it views it as attack- i have perfect hearing, but i imgine my aspie comprehension of of loud noise is that it is threatening in some way. it feels physically unpleasent.

substitute touch for sound, and then see why it would be annoying or frightening to have unexpected, creepy touch constantly bothering you as you walked along the street, but ok when you tap your own knee.