Anyone here sensitive to loud noise?

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How do you handle it?

It can be a daily struggle, because I'm caught between disliking loud noise and disliking being judged by other people. Putting your hands over your ears when a loud noise occurs is sadly very socially unacceptable. I don't know why, because it isn't offending or hurting anyone, but there you go, that's society for you.

Earplugs can be a sanity saver.

Yes it's not always easy to strike a balance. Sometimes I think I'd have an easier time if I pretended I suffer from migraine. Beyond that, sometimes I think one just has to "publish and be damned," i.e. admit that the noise is hurting and steel yourself for any flak. I think sometimes people can be sympathetic.

My usual way of coping with annoying noise is to get away from it. If I can't, I might use an audio player to mask it, with headphones if that's appropriate. Earplugs are sometimes helpful, especially with high-pitched sounds, though they get uncomfortable after a while.

Headphones.
Earbuds.
Earplugs.

It is? I've never observed that.

If it's a very loud noise, covering the ears is usually considered acceptable, but if it's a person making a noise that wouldn't be particularly objectionable to a NT but would be to an Aspie with hearing sensitivity, then I think covering the ears could sometimes be taken as a nonverbal way of saying "shut up." It's hard to demonstrate this because in many cultures people don't immediately and explicitly challenge perceived rudeness. Though I'm never sure how it might go down in any given situation. So much depends on the kind of people we're among.

Greetings. I am not sensitive to loud noise, but am sensitive to other types of noises. Hopefully people don't mind that I state my noise sensitivities here.

For me, I am sensitive to either beeping noises, high frequencies, and background noises that are pretty quiet. In my physics class last year, there were these timers that people set the alarms on them for some reason and would go off in my class. It would beep until someone turned it off. And this would go off in the middle of a lesson. I'd ask the teacher to turn it off, but she said she would after the lesson. I can't concentrate when any of my noise sensitivities are happening. So I couldn't focus on the lesson anymore.

I feel high frequencies everyone doesn't like, so I'll skip it.

For background noises, I mean stuff like a fan, the air conditioning unit, a fish tank, stuff like this. So I was allowed to write in a separate room for my exam. But, in this separate room, my exam was positioned right beneath the air conditioning unit. It's not loud, but it's there. None of the sounds I am sensitive to are painful, but are annoying, and I lose my concentration from. And I asked about the noise, and instead of saying I can move to a different spot, they said to turn my headphones louder, but not loud enough to disturb others. I turned it up, but I could still hear it. I eventually tuned out though. I can do this when I have music on and when interested on what I'm doing or know it's important.

And people don't understand why I'm sensitive to them. I'm told to ignore the sounds. I just am annoyed by people about this. I was just diagnosed with ASD four months ago, so not all these examples are applicable and make sense that others wouldn't understand, but the other one, should have been fixed up. Maybe I'm being too selfish about this. It doesn't matter anymore anyways (these examples).

Me, for as long as I can remember, too... Usually, when I was still in school, and if there was a test going on in one of my classes, I'd get accommodations to take mine in a much quieter room, (because from my experiences, some people weren't very considerate to me after they had finished their tests before mine).

As ErzaS said, any kind of headphones can mask the noises if you know it's going to be fairly constant somewhere (like people on a bus or any kind of *shudder* crowded room). They seem to be more socially acceptable than covering your ears or wearing obvious earplugs. With the inner-ear headphones you dont even need to be playing anything for them to mask a fair bit of noise. just keep the plug end in your pocket (or it might be weird).

I usually wince at sudden loud noises. I no longer try and cover my ears. I also agree with Joe90 that covering your ears is seen as socially unacceptable for different situations. I.e. it seems to be fine to cover your ears because of a constant, very loud noise (like a jackhammer), but not because of a car horn (where the noise has passed before your hands get to your ears) or for a child making a lot of noise while playing (parents seem to take it as an insult).
Good luck

Dogs barking, phone ringing

I get noticibly startled.

I'm very sensitive to loud noises. I usually will plug my ears or wear earphones (with or without music playing)

No way I can really handle it as the people around me always blame it on because I get so startled.

Now the noise if it is produced by me I can deal with it as I sometimes use noise to void out all the other noise.

If only a certain area is too noisy, I just try to subtly get away from it. If that's not an option, I always carry some noise-isolating earphones as backup.

I think sometimes people can be sympathetic.

I definitely get startled, then annoyed at any loud sound. My husband laughs if a motorcycle drives by our apartment. I keep the place dead quiet. If he turns on the TV, I keep it low. Since it is all in Japanese, we keep the Japanese CC on so I can read whatever I miss, and I think he has begun doing it to because of the low volume. I definitely don't go to the cinema. The clear, loud-as-heck sound systems they use nowadays are terrible. Ugh. I don't go into the city unless I have to, and the sound of my neighbor's crying toddler makes me unreasonably angry. When people talk too loud, I tell them straight up my ears are sensitive in a gentle voice. I tried different workarounds and gave up. I don't care if people get mad; the volume was painful for me!