Sound Sensitivity

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I hate windchimes. They drive me completely bonkers - the random tinkles get me really distressed. I hate whispering, or muted conversation going on in the background - when people are trying to talk quietly but not succeding. If I'm stressed, I walk out when people make eating/chewing noises. Buzzing lights - aarghh! Clapping - ouch! Someone else vacuuming. Radio while someone is talking. Music when I'm reading.... Loud bangs, my dogs barking, my son yelling 'muuuum!', the cat meowing for its dinner.... Goodness, the world is full of annoying sounds. I still rate the windchime as my most hated sound however...

I cannot stand low background noises. I never studied in the library when I was in college -- I couldn't stand the hum of the heating/cooling system. The irregular, constantly changing noise of the dormitory I could tune out.
I can't stand the hum of the ceiling fan or air conditioner when I'm trying to sleep, or the distant clack-clack of the rail line a couple miles away when the windows are open at night. Even the hum of the computer annoys me. The hum of flourescent lights is even worse!
People noise I like. I like my busy, kid-filled, noisy house. Irregular, happy people noise is good. Low, constant, humming noise is bad.

I was over at a friends house yesterday, his mom was vacuuming in the next room. Vaccums normally don't bother me (i'm talking about your classic upright vaccum), the constant drone of the fan muffled by the attachments and the bag, I actually find quite soothing. But this vaccum had something loose inside of, and the rattle of what ever was loose and the combination of the fan drove me up the wall, I had to cover my ears until the vaccum got turned off.

Speaking of vaccums, back in 1990 when I was in fifth grade, I use to draw the chore every friday to clean out the erasers. I had to take them all to the janitors room and use a special vaccum that was mounted on a table. I was absolutely terrified of turning the thing on becasue the sudden rush of noise from the vaccum spinning up was too much for me to handle. So one day I flipped the switch on with out plugging it in, I found an extension cord, plugged that into the cord on the vac, and then plugged the extension cord into an outlet as far away as the cord would reach. The thing roared to life, but I left all the erasers on the dust bag attached to the thing. As a result, my erasers went flying across the room when the dust bag inflated.

[Off topic, I apologize]
Scott, can you provide technical details about the erasers, the vacuum in the janitor's room and the activity that you were performing with these objects? For the life of me, I can't figure out what are you talking about, and my imagination creates some nonsense.

By the way, when I hear a sound that I cannot stand, I close my eyes, but I never cover my ears. Doesn't make much sense, does it?

The vaccum cleaner I was referring to was a table mounted unit that sucked all the chalk dust out of the blackboard erasers, which is what I was cleaning out. You ran the eraser across an opening on top the fan housing that looked like an upside down crevice attachment, which is what sucked out the dust, the dust went into a bag that was attached to output part of the fan housing.

Hope that helps.

What an advancement in technology! When I was in school, we had to took turns standing outside and clapping the erasers together to get rid if the dust.

[quote="Kosh"]It seems a lot of people like the volume higher than I do.[quote]

- that is probably because they have become deaf because of it.

For a while I had some pretty bad ear wax, enough so that I stoped hearing my alarm clock in the morning. The doctors had me squirt a 1-1 dilution of hydrodyn-peroxide in my ear while lying on the other side. After about a week of doing that 2 miniutes a day, it was all clear.

Thanks for the explanation. Now I can visualize the device properly. It indeed seems like a very advanced technology. When I was in school, we were using sponges to erase blackboards. The chemistry teacher had an echolalic saying: "Go to boys' restroom and soak the sponge in silence!". Of course, there were no faucets with silence in the restroom, but the teacher could never tell ordinary water from silence. I did not hold her in high esteem because if that. After all she taught chemistry and she should have been more conversant with substances.

is this vaccum at school similar to central vaccuming in homes ( mainly newer homes??)
the central vaccuming system is similar you have this like outlet in the walls and you hook up your central vaccuming hose to it- and when you vaccume it collects it all in a central area in the basement-
we just moved into a very old house ( over 150 years old) and this is something that the past owners had installed= I have not used it yet=
I am not sure how it will sound- I will use it when my two kids at are hype sensative to sound are not home.
Michele

No. This vaccum was no where near what a central vac system is

As for central vac systems, I've never seen one in action, but I understand there the quietest of vaccum systems since the motor is buried deep inside a water heater sized tank.

Im tolerant with any sounds. The problem really starts when Im trying to sleep. I get very irritable if everything isnt absolutely peace and quiet. I use to go to a boarding school for a year and this was very difficult at times. Of all the empty rooms in the juniors hallway I get the one all the way in the front. Which means I have the laundry room right across from my door with the noise of the washers, dryers, and people socializing. My room was also next door to one of the popular kids in the building so he always had people in his room chatting and making loud noises. My room was also at the intersection of the junior and senior hallways where I had to constantly listen to people chatting and running across the hall causing nuisance. To finish it off, I had to listen to the toilets flushing in the bathroom right on the other side of my room.

My roommate would sometimes bring in a friend and they would chat while I tried to sleep. They would chat in a low-tone for me but I was still annoyed by the bass in their voices. My roommate and I got into fights over this and he eventually moved out into another room just for himself. I did the same cause I couldnt stand the noise around my room. I moved down another floor into another hall away with only a few other guys which was much quieter. Well, the few kids that where in that hall all either moved out into another or got expelled from the school so I ended up having it all to myself.

I ended up wanting to ring the neck of the person whos room was above mine. He would always be coming in and out of his room everynight and he would constantly slam his door which annoyed the hell out of me. I confronted him over this and we almost got into a fight. The sound of his a/c dripping water onto the aluminum of my a/c drove me insane at night. I would have to get an old t-shirt, open my window, and place it on my a/c so I wouldnt hear the water dripping on it. Sometimes the t-shirt would get so wet that I eventually heard the water drip on the soaked shirt. After enjoying being by myself for a few months, the dorm decided to move the weight room into my empty hall for others to exercise. So I had to listen to the constant dropping of heavy weights into the ground while the dorm guys where chatting and being rumbuncious.

Most people in my dorm thought I was a wierdo but I didnt really pay them any attention. Im just lucky I didnt get suspended from that boarding school with all the conflicts Ive went through.

Most of the sounds I hate are either high pictched and squeaky (flossing teeth, magic markers, T.V.s, electric drills), have high pitched noises along with a steady drone or hum (vacuum cleaners, the computer), or are people - especially people who are suddenly but regularly loud, so that you absolutely cannot relax: you have to brace yourself for the next assault.

I have a co-worker who is like that; I cringe at the sound of her voice. She is always screaming delightedly or bossing people around or shouting "GOOD!! !, AWESOME!! !! GREAT!! !" It drives me up a freaking wall. She came up with a "WONDERFUL" game which involved her shrieking encouragement as the children batted balloons towards me (I was half of the finish line, oh goodie). I wanted nothing more than to flee.... When they got to the finish line, they were to sit on the balloons and pop them! :horror: Honestly, if she'd devised something specifically to provoke a panic attack, it couldn't have been much more effective unless it involved snakes. Luckily the next game was hide and seek, so I took off and curled up under a clump of bushes to recover and they didn't find me. Just thinking about the event makes me shudder....I abhor balloons popping.

Heavy metal- I don't know how people keep from going insane with this, half an hour would do it for me. I can't take even a few seconds of it.

Deep rumbling vibrations don't bother me much on a short term basis, as a train rumbling by. I actually enjoy that.

The fourth of July is hell for me. I love the colors of the fireworks but not the sounds. The artillery shells are the worst.

If I am stressed, just about any sounds will irritate me unless I have control over it. Even the silent presence of another person will bug me. I become exponentially more sensitive the longer this continues. When I play chess or am otherwise concentrating deeply, I pretty much want the place silent except for occasional conversation, at most.

I think I am deffinately the worst when it comes to being annoyed by different sounds. I can't stand even the lowest sounds and have converted to using earplugs (rather attractive, heh). I wasn't wearing them last week during one of my classes and we were watching a movie, there was a lawnmower running outside and people were talking: I ran out of class crying. I couldn't take it. It's especially great that I have to live with my sister and brother (who blast their music so my floor shakes). I don't know how I even survive in school; how will college be next year?!

Since I'm now living in a dorm, I wear earplugs at night so I can sleep. I'm incredibly hypersensitive to sound when I sleep, even the slightest noise that reeks of human activity will often wake me up, In addition I now have to put up the with following noises that all seek to keep me from getting a good night's sleep.

- People crusing thru the campus at midnight squealing their tires
- Recirculitory pumps for hot water in the building
- An air compressor for I don't what, cycling on and off
- My roommate getting in bed at 1:30 in the morning, usually drunk, falls alseep, and then snores with the intensity of someone starting a chainsaw ever other second.
- The fan I have in my room to keep it from reach 100 degrees overnight when I sleep
- People using the bathroom which is right across from my door
- The drinking fountain, also right outside my door which cycles on and off
- Doors being slammed shut from the wind flowing thru the building
- The guy five doors down who's stereo system I can hear with my door and his door shut.

Plus I finally figured out that my matress was alinged the wrong way, which was I've only been getting four hours of sleep or less each night, even with the earplugs. So now with that hopefully fixed, I might be able to get a good nights sleep tonight. And with earplugs, All those noises get attenuated to a level where I barely notice them, so I now have some quite at night when I try to sleep.

I had to talk to my roommate about sleep since we had to do a roommate contract, he can sleep thru anything, as can everyone else I know, and I don't know how they do it? I can't sleep unless I have things just right.

I have some of the same problems in my dorm, but not all. I have three roommates to deal with, but they really haven't given me too many problems at night. Usually, the two who like to stay up late will be out and about or studying and the other usually goes to bed around 11:00. However, they will sometimes leave the door slightly open with the door stop (it automatically locks), watch TV, or leave the light on in the other half of the room. My sound sensitivity has improved quite a bit over the years. I can remember being scared of loud sounds up until around age eight. I especially remember hating the roar of animatronic dinosaurs at museums and the sound of fireworks, which no longer bothers me at all today.

I hate loud sounds. There. I've said it, now let me elaborate.

The higher pitched the sound, the more it bothers me. Y'know those supposedly "silent" dog whistles?? I can hear them. I have a shifted hearing spectrum (I don't know if that's the technical term.) That means I have amazing hearing in the higher ranges, even above normal human hearing, around average hearing in the area where most human voices lie and sub standard hearing in the lower ranges.

When my puppy was really little, she had this yappy, squeeky bark. My mum got really mad because the puppy was barking at me and eventually I got so overloaded I swatted the dog across the nose. It was only once and it was gentle, but both my mother and I were apalled.

Also, although I can't hear it, the vibration of the bass coming out of a subwoofer makes my hair stand on end.

I tend to squeek and yell to drown out loud noises.