Sound Sensitivity: Why should I get used to it?

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I was in a public parking lot getting back to the car and some guy walking to the car next to ours is going tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk... I almost started a fight with that guy and my parents yell at me saying I should get used to it. WHY?!?! All my life My Asperger's has made me sensitive to every mouth sound known in the world and people keep telling me that I should get used to it.

Okay, so I should get used to people making mouth sounds while they make all the mouth sounds they want around me instead of them showing respect by keeping it to a minimum around me? Sounds fair on one condition: I get to dip my left hand in sulfuric acid.

People will ask why would I dip my left hand in sulfuric acid and I'll ask why should I get used to that which irritates me, destroys my concentration, ruins my good mood, increases my anxiety, and might stress-fully kill me if my health was in a critical status.

If a guy will click his tongue for five seconds, I will dip my left hand in sulfuric acid for five seconds. The pain from touch will equal the pain from hearing.

I refuse to get used to sound. People should get used to me.

I have nothing to say apart from I so know what you mean!! !! !

When people in the apartment next door play drums, I 'm really glad I don't own a shotgun, because I would be in jail now.

I really hate noise.

I talk to myself a lot. My roommate can probably hear it. If he told me - even once - that it bothered him, I would TAPE MY MOUTH SHUT IF I HAD TO to eradicate it, so he can sleep, study or just think!! Or else go somewhere out of his earshot so I can think out loud again, thereby helping me think. I'd also buy him earplugs to help with the auditory sensitivity just so it costs him zero dollars and zero time!

That being said if acclimatization were possible, it would be by being exposed to the offending sense for VERY VERY SHORT amounts of time. Like, in the OP's case, one or two tsks once a day or less to start. Baby steps. I'm not even sure if that would work, for either the OP or me...

You should look up "misophonia" -- getting used to it might be a concept only possible for those who don't have it.

From the Wiki page (link):

I can explain to you what your parents apparently failed to explain: if you start a fight with that person just for doing that, you can end up in jail. That is called assault. You just cannot go around hurting people because they are hurting you without knowing. And no, people will not get used to you. Not everyone around you, at least. I recommend wearing earplugs in public.

I can explain to you what your parents apparently failed to explain: if you start a fight with that person just for doing that, you can end up in jail. That is called assault. You just cannot go around hurting people because they are hurting you without knowing. And no, people will not get used to you. Not everyone around you, at least. I recommend wearing earplugs in public.

I find earphones and headphones uncomfortable.

People tell me things like that all the time. Like I have a fear of bells (not church bells, I mean electric bells in places like schools), and when I say I don't want to work in a school because I don't like bells, they just tut at me and go, ''you're letting that get in the way of getting a job?'' Yes, I am, but I don't know how to not feel anxious when jumping out my skin each time the bell rings. Even if I have a watch, I still jump out of my skin. And I don't want to stand there like a twit with my fingers in my ears waiting for the bell to hurry up and ring. But I just can't get used to the sound of it, and it's a fear that I can't seem to overcome. I was at school for 12 years of my life, and I couldn't get used to it then, so I'm not going to get used to it now.

It is unreasonable for someone to expect you to "get used to" something you are simply incapable of getting used to. It's like asking someone to "get used to" waterboarding or electric shock treatment. I also have a high sensitivity to certain sounds, so I sympathize.

On the other hand, it's equally unreasonable to expect the whole world to adapt to your highly unusual need. There's genuinely no way they can understand what you go through, no matter how well you try to explain, and asking people to stop making noise is simply impossible. Human beings make noise, most of the time without even realizing it. They're no more able to change that than you are able to get used to it.

You just can't expect people to understand something just because you tell them it's true. Imagine someone told you they were allergic to the letter W and you must absolutely not use that letter in their presence or they will suffer extreme (but completely invisible) discomfort. Even if you believed this incredible claim (and let's be honest, most people wouldn't), how exactly would you go about removing the letter W from your vocabulary? It's far too much to ask of anyone, and really it makes more sense for the person with the "allergy" to try to find a way to protect themselves than to expect the whole world to change their entire lives.

It may not seem like you're asking that much of them, but that is how it feels from their point of view. Remember, they're also only human and no one likes being told they have to change something intrinsic to their behavior just to accommodate something they've never even heard of. So imagine the allergic person was aware that it's not the rest of the world's fault they suffer this way and did their best to protect their ears from the letter, but also - politely - asked others from time to time to be more careful because they were in a lot of pain. That's a person you can deal with despite their disability. You would try to reduce your W use within reason, though you wouldn't be able to eliminate it completely. On the other hand, imagine this person is angry at the world for having invented the letter W to begin with and expects you to completely remove the letter from your vocabulary whenever they are present or else consider you personally responsible for their suffering. That's not someone you're likely to try to accommodate.

It's a rough situation and hardly fair, but then life rarely is. If you absolutely cannot get used to noise-cancelling headphones (my personal solution - I've managed to find some very comfortable ones that don't bother me), the only other thing I can think of would be some sort of medication, perhaps an anti-anxiety like Diazepam, that makes those sounds less painful to hear (but not without side effects). I'm really sorry you're suffering so much, but as frustrated as you must feel, you can't blame others for your own disability. If they're being jerks about it, that's not cool, but then again you can't really stop people from being jerks.