This world we live in is so loud. I have a number of sensory issues and dealing with noise in my day-to-day has historically been a challenge. But since I have discovered the power of noise cancelling earbuds, I have been able to limit the number of times in a day when I am overwhelmed by sounds.
When I Used My Noise Cancelling Earbuds Yesterday:
6:07am - As soon as I walked out the door with Hannah on our morning walk, the sound of loud cars hurt my brain. I don't like to have noise cancelling on when I'm walking because I'm likely to miss things that might set Hannah off, but sometimes you do what you gotta do.
8:41am, 10:10am, 3:22pm - Going into our bathroom at work. The flushing sounds ricocheting off the tile is painful for me. I go in prepared now.
4:48pm - On my after work walk with Hannah, we passed by this really loud AC unit and we were approaching a very loud, busy intersection. I turned the noise cancelling off when we passed by the intersection.
5:02pm - Turned it back on when we reached the intersection again.
6:37pm - I took Hannah outside to brush her. It was so loud - it was windy, there was someone revving their engine in the neighborhood, and someone was using a leaf blower. I was obviously not having it. I honestly wish I had something to protect poor Hannah's ears.
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| Note the huge amount of undercoat I brushed out. |
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Is there a noise you hear regularly that sets you on edge?
Since I am very poor of hearing, the only sounds I'd like to cancel would be the constant tinnitus.
ReplyDeleteOh, I think I would lose my mind. I'm so sorry you have to suffer through that.
DeleteI'm Ok with the normal noises in my environment. The worst that I can remember is an Airbnb that I stayed at last fall. It was near the expressway and it was SO LOUD at night. The apartment had a noise machine but I found that adding more noise on top of noise did not help. I don't have noise canceling headphones but I can see getting some.
ReplyDeleteDoggo doesn't do well with new sounds. The week that lawn mowing season started was rough. I think she's finally gotten used to the noise.
Hannah used to really get upset with small engine noises - motorcycles, lawn mowers, etc. - but she has chilled a bit over time. I get it, though, it hurts my ears and I can't even imagine how loud it is to them!
DeleteMy kids fighting (or, almost worse, on the verge of fighting...I can sense what's coming. When the ire of one sibling gets going, I need that tornado-shelter-bathroom in which to wait out the storm).
ReplyDeleteHonestly, that's the only noise that really, really bothers me! Mostly because I know I'll be called to settle the dispute!
Oh, and if I'm ever trying to sleep and someone is playing thumping music. We live next to a musician who plays in a band. He is lovely, but once had a party going until like 3 am and I thought I was going to lose my living mind.
He now has two children and I have not a single issue with middle-of-the-night music from his place :)
I need white noise to sleep. It's a bit of a shame since I literally cannot sleep if I don't have a white noise apparatus of some form now...
We always have a ceiling fan going on in our room to sleep and I guess that's the most white noise we have. Now that the bells have stopped tolling at night, it's been so much easier to get to sleep!
DeleteI'm not generally sensitive to noise, but I am sensitive to competing noises. Like, if the TV is on and someone is talking and then someone else plays an Instagram video with the sound on...that makes me insane.
ReplyDeleteYESSSSS!!! Parties are the worst - there's usually music, competing conversations, and the ambient noise of the world. I cannot stand it. At family gatherings, I'm constantly turning the tv on mute/turning the tv off because I can't stand it blaring when I'm trying to hear what people are saying!
DeleteI'll bet that you hate when winter leaves, only because it means that windows are open for fresh air and the fresh hell of all the street noise. Sigh. I get you. I really do.
ReplyDeleteI detest the sound of motorcycles so much--the loud street bike type. Our street is one of the few with no stop sign between blocks, so they scream down it like crazy. We also have a large number of neighbours who love to mow their lawns late--like after 8PM--and take their sweet time doing it. Then bring out the string trimmers and edgers. THEN bring out the leaf blowers for the clippings. By then I want to either cry or go out and slap them.
You get me, Nance. All winter, Hannah and I have the streets to ourselves. Very occasionally there will be a snowblower, but it's pretty rare. There are very few other dog walkers out. It's just me and my dog in a quiet world. And as soon as the snow melts, everyone else comes outdoors and the world ratchets up the volume to 11. But I guess I'll take the louder volume with nice weather. At least I can outside now without wearing two hats.
DeleteI'm thankful I can zone most stuff out... But misophonia, especially if I don't like someone, can strike me pretty hard.
ReplyDeleteOh, to be able to zone out. *sigh* Oh, well, I have figured it out better as an adult.
DeleteI'm so glad you figured out a way to help with this! Noise bothers me too, especially the L in the city and trucks when I run. I often wear earplugs when it's safe to.
ReplyDeleteSubways are SO LOUD. I really struggle with traffic noises and I think the L would make me lose my mind.
DeleteI am getting less and less able to tolerate noise as I get older (and more perimenopausal, maybe?). As you can imagine, this is not a great quality in an elementary school librarian, and noise-cancelling earbuds are not really a solution lol. I do sometimes explain clearly to the kids that I really need them to be quieter because of my own issues. At other times I just tell them firmly to be quiet - like they're supposed to be in a library, really, but I never wanted to be a hard-ass shushing librarian. The problem is that elementary school kids are really really bad at talking quietly - it's either silence or deafening roar.
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha. I just have an image of you trying to explain to children why they should be quiet and then ending it all up by freaking out because they don't know how to whisper. I used to work in a high school of performing arts and there were kids in every nook and cranny practicing instruments, monologues, or dancing to loud music and I nearly lost my mind and I couldn't ever get work done at work. I didn't have noise-cancelling headphones then.
DeleteDo you listen to something when you turn on your noise cancelling earbuds? Or is it just white noise? I guess the constant "Moooooommmmmmm" gets to me, but that's often because I'm trying to do something else - so it's not the noise itself, it's more just me.
ReplyDeleteDo you ever feel like things are too quiet? or that bliss? My four year old sometimes says, "It's too quiet, mom!" and I'm thinking, "But you can hear birds and feet crunching and distant traffic! So many sounds!" It makes me think what a subjective sliding scale noise can be.
The bathroom sign - maybe the tornados misread the sign and are sheltering *in* the bathroom too?
Most of the time I have a podcast or audiobook going. But it bums me out when I just want to walk with my dog and listen to the birds and I have to turn it on because I do want it to be quiet!
DeleteThe bathroom! It can just be me in there and it sounds like a cheerleading team is in there. I don't understand how the acoustics can be that bad. AND during an actual tornado, the sirens in there are DEAFENING.
Gosh, those noise-cancelling earbuds must be a lifesaver! I am very sensitive to noise, too. I live right by a really busy road so I hear the traffic ALL THE TIME. The worst is all the ambulances/fire trucks/police cars that come by blaring their sirens. I am really looking forward to moving and having a quieter indoor life.
ReplyDeleteI also hate when the lawn guys are here because all the lawnmowers and blowers and such are so aggravating to me. And like Nicole said - competing sounds. That is so distracting to me!
When I worked from home, I had in my noise-cancelling earbuds most of the time just to cover up some of the neighborhood noises like sirens, church bells, and lawn mowers. It just takes over my whole body and I cannot think. I hated it when I would have meetings and people were talking and I could hear outside things! Now I can just shut my office door!
DeleteI'm sensitive to noise too, and like Nicole, competing sounds really get me. Having a conversation in a noisy restaurant is the worst. I totally get it about the toilet flushing! How do they make toilets So loud? And they randomly go off like shot guns!
ReplyDeleteI don't know why the toilets are so loud, but they seriously make me crazy. I wouldn't think of going in there without my earbuds these days!
DeleteLoud noises are my kryptonite, as are competing noises. My daughter and my guy can listen to the tv, have a conversation, and play music all at the same time; I have to leave the room/floor and hide. I've never thought about getting noise cancelling ear things, but what a way to live life less startled and stressed for sure. (*starts Googling*)
ReplyDeleteHow do people watch tv and have a conversation? I don't get it. I never really learned how to multi-task OR multi-listen I guess!
DeleteI think I'm a little bit "noise blind" (ha- wouldn't that be deaf?) The only time noises really bothering me is if someone is doing something really inconsiderate, like blaring TV commercials loudly or talking loudly in an in appropriate place. But regular noises don't bother me too much. i guess I'm lucky. We also sleep with a fan on, just for the white noise- if I don't have that on, I don't sleep as well.
ReplyDeleteThe TV is a HUGE matter of consternation for me at family get togethers. It's always on SO LOUD and I can't really even hear conversations over it, so I turn it off or turn it on mute and then my FIL turns it back on and then I turn it off and it turns into a war. Why does everyone else's enjoyment take a backseat to the basketball game my FIL wants to watch?! I wish I could just ignore it like you, Jenny. I really do.
DeleteBeing that sensitive to noise owuld be a real pain. I'm generally not sensitive unless I'm in the migraine zone, then loud laughs and talking especially hurt my ears/head as well as the usual culprits of building works and loud cars and motorbikes.
ReplyDeleteWow. I'm sitting in my house as the only person in it and I'm annoyed by the sound of the fan in the bathroom and my own typing on the keyboard. LOL. I wish I could NOT be sensitive, but I guess we are who we are. I'm glad there are people out there who can handle the noise of the world with aplomb.
DeleteI’m so very sensitive to noises, specifically loud ones and competing sounds like the tv/conversation at the same time being on. I have tinnitus too which probably makes all sounds worse and more sensitive to my ears. Not fun but I definitely prefer quiet environments. This wasn’t easy when my kids were toddlers and I did resort to wearing headphones for a while especially around my youngest as he was a screamer lol.
ReplyDeleteThis is yet another reason to add to my list of why I didn't have children. I imagine it would be different if they were your own, but kids screaming/crying/being kids is so hard for me to deal with! It's not THEIR fault, of course, but tell that to my overstimulated brain!
DeleteLuckily I live on a semi-rural street so we don't get a lot of noise. But, I am agreeing with everyone above about kid-related noises. I have put in headphones before because of the screaming and crying (which is much less now that my kids are older, thankfully.) The sound of kids shows is awful. And any place where there is a kids birthday party is the absolute worst. Yelling, loud music, bright lights; I literally cannot do it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how parents do it!
DeleteI am kind of sensitive to noise but not as sensitive to others. But my oldest is sensitive to noises, especially flushing toilets and hand dryers in public bathrooms. He is always covering his ears or I have to wait until he leaves the bathroom to flush the toilet. Our home toilet is fine.
ReplyDeleteYou would have a hard time in our house with your noise sensitivity. My children are SO LOUD and Taco is especially loud. I feel like I tell him multiple times a day to be less loud and yet he has 2 settings - loud and extremely loud. Yesterday we had to leave Paul's art show at school. It was a family event so we thought it'd be fine to bring Taco. It was not fine. He would not sit still. He would not hold my hand. And then he eventually ran away from me and I had to pick him up and carry him kicking screaming out of the building and then Paul has to kind of pull Paul by the arm to get him to leave because he did NOT want to leave but it was clear we HAD to leave... Oof, it was not pleasant. I look forward to a time when it's not so freaking loud in our house but I think that is several years away.
Look, I feel for Paul re: bathrooms. They are SO LOUD. It physically hurts me at times and I'm not even exaggerating. Our home toilet is fine, too - why are public toilets SO INSANE?
DeleteI do not envy you. It sounds like Taco is a bit of a handful. But this too shall pass. I will say that it is rare that 18-year-olds come to our campus and still throw screaming, kicking tantrums!!
I tolerate noise fairly well, but some noises (like my ex-co-worker constantly clearing his throat) are very annoying. It's smart that you have noise canceling headphones now... do you wear them all day?
ReplyDeleteI don't wear my earbuds all day, just when I need a bit more quiet than normal. I do wear them pretty much the whole time I walk the dog, though.
DeleteOMG. Yes. So much yes. Living in an apartment can really stink when you're noise-sensitive. The people next door turn up their bass and have (illegal) surround-sound speakers. The vibration alone wakes me up. The leaf blowers. The mowers. The people in the hallway. The ambulances on University. Solidarity in the noise-canceling headphones minority here.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I could live on a busy street like University. I would lose my mind. Noise canceling headphones FTW!!
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