Hearing sensitivity/hypercusis/recruitment

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Hi folks... forgive me for this thread.. I found your group by doing a search on hearing sensitivity and I found a thread here about it.. I had to register to participate and now I cannot find that thread to save my soul.. One of the posters I read, had symptoms very close to what I believe my son experiences. He is a 34 yr old autistic male and his hearing sensitivites are driving us both insane... We are very isolated because he has such terrible reactions to the common cough.. He gets uncomfortable with various noises but the coughing sounds send him into an absolute rage of violence... afterwards, he sobs his heart out and is drained.. Since he is autistic, language in his case is relegated to ecolalia.... he has memorized certain phrases and words to know he can get what he wants by saying them... and fools many people into thinking he has more language skills than he really has... but he cannot explain to me what he is feeling or what might help. Can any of you help me out with this issue? Or at least tell me how to find the thread I was reading when I was directed here? Hopefully I will eventually learn to use the site. Thanks

many companies sell noise canselation headphones, I'm mild enough to get by on earplugs, but it sounds like your son may be over-sensative even with them so the headphones are probably your best bet, as they act against sound rather than just blocking it, it may still not be perfect, but it will get rid of quite a bit of sound

Noise Cancellation Headphones? What sort of companies? Where do I begin? Medical companies? Yes, his hearing is hyper acute... but the coughing seems to irritate him more that anything.. Irritate is an understatement.. It sends him into fits or rage.. Do you think it is painful for him or only horribly annoying? Thanks for your suggestion... More info would be helpful..

I did a seach on them and found them.. Something I could try...however, info I found staes they are somewhat bulky... making them difficult to wear at all times when in public and also: They work well for sounds that are continuous, such as the hum of a refrigerator or the sound in an airplane cabin, but are rather ineffective against speech or other rapidly changing audio signals. Couch would come unde rapidly changinf audio sounds... I am still going to check this out.. They are very expensive but I am willing to try almost anything.. thank you

true they are a bit large, and work mainly on longer lasting sounds, but as I said it's not perfect, in fact it might not help in any meaningful way at all, I meant it as something worth looking into, I wish I could be of more help to you, as for why coughing is particularly iratating to him, I have no idea, and as such don't know what the best aproach would be, all I can do is give what possible options I know can help general over sensitivity to sound, if I could help more I would, and I wish you luck, and if I come upon any possible insight it other options I will be sure to tell you

I have nothing but empathy for you and your family, I personally suffer from acute problems from hyper sensitivity to certain sounds and bright light it drives me crazy and to the point of making me very angry and extremely distracted. It's sensory overload I have no suggestions on how to deal with this as your child will have to learn how to deal with this in his own.
I am probably on the far end of ASD myself and as 40 plus year old have had learn to compensate I suspect your own child is autistic and may need professional help.
Oh and I had my hearing tested for my work and I was way off the scale lassie would be proud.
It really does hurt for us especially higher pitched noises you have no idea how bad.

I remember someone on this board (KingdomOfRats ?) mentioning using "ear-muff" type sound dampers -- like the kind used by airport workers or people at a gun range. I can't remember the proper term ATM, though. But anyway the good ones of that type damp down nearly all sound (and my hearing is pretty sensitive).

Here's an example f what I mean (from the Cabela's catalog)

I bought Sony Noise-Canceling Headphones and I like them, but I think maybe the yellow ones pictured above might be even better.

I also got industrial strength earplugs from eBay, and I like them a lot.

Sound sensitivity seems to "reset" for me - the aggravation level is humungous, then if I can have silence, it's not so bad.

There is one public place that has absolute silence: a Catholic church. I sometimes use them as a refuge from sound if I have to be out for awhile.

And my favorite book about this kind of thing:-
Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight: What to Do If You Are Sensory Defensive in an Overstimulating World

You can buy waxy earplugs that mold to fit more closely. I don't have super sensitive hearing but sometimes if I'm trying to get to sleep and I can't tune noise out they help. They cut the edge on high pitched noises, which irritate me too. They don't cancel out what you hear, just muffle it. The airport ear pads look very effective. I guess they would have to be.

I'm actually wearing yellow earprotectors just like the ones in the picture. They take away the sharpness of sounds and my kids are painfully loud right now- or maybe I'm extra sensitive. Anyhow, they block out the painful sounds, but I can still hear what people say if they're fairly close. I got them when they started renovating the bathrooms and I'm so glad I did, I never realized how stressed and irritable sounds could make me, until I found a way to block them out that is. I highly recommend it.

And if you get black ones people will probably think it's just music when you're outside

I play fiddle.
The type of music I play tends not to use drums but should someone start clapping their hands in time with the music, that clapping becomes the sum total of all I can hear
and my ears start to feel as if they'll explode.

Ear plugs help a bit if I'm in the audience but if I'm actually playing along with my fiddle, I have to stop and/or leave.

A down side of ear plugs is that it makes my own voice sound louder to me, which in turn makes me lower the volume of my voice and sets everyone around to shouting at me to speak louder so they can hear me.

The waxy ones that you fit in your ear do help the audio problems, but I find they irritate me almost as much as the noise. Unlike your son, I don't have this problem all the time... it seems to be at certain times of the month (I'm female) and when I'm overly tired, or stressed. But it can physically hurt sometimes, so I have a great deal of sympathy for your son.

Actually, at the moment I'm wearing big headphones to cover my ears, not because I'm listening to music, but because they are helping cut out ambient noise. I must sound stupid, but even though I've tried ear plugs in the past, I've never done a google search for audio aids.

I've simply worn old fashioned headphones, sometimes with music that I'm used to and comfortable with, to drown out irritating background noise.

For me, noises like folks sneezing, coughing, clearing their throats, is something like a blow. I can't leave the house after dark when firework season starts (thank you God that I got a job in the countryside) and it makes me flinch when the adverts come on telly... they always turn the sound up, and it feels like someone's screaming at you.

What music does your son respond to? He could have such music on his headphones if you're likely to be in public, and it might help. It does help me.

i don't know if this helps but .. I can't stand people snoring it drives me crazy I simply cannot take it. I have slept in bathrooms and laundry rooms in the most uncomfortable positions to avoid hearing people snoring. Most of the time tho the solution is usually a background noise like fan/AC or music with noise canceling headphones.(don't really get deep sleep with music on but at least i don't have to hear people snore).

[b]Okay... There are a lot of good ideas here... I am not sure if it is the loudness of the cough that bothers him... jest the particular sound it makes.. like the one responder who is bothered by snoring..though I have heard tremendously LOUD snoring in my life.. I am thinking they mean the sound rather than the loudness..

I think my son's problem is much more than just an irritant.. He flies into this scary rage and goes after people..then sobs uncontrollably.. Unfortunately he is an adult and when he was young and could have been helped, there wasn't much funding for autism and he didn't get the help he needed.. He is 34 yrs old now and I am trying, as always, to find answers... like: does the sound cause physical pain? Or just send him into a rage from the irritant of it? He does not have the verbal skills to explain and I don't know what to do for him.. Temple Grandin stated once that certain sounds caused her excrutiating pain... Reading about her made me think that others with her particular condition might be able to answer some questions I had about my son since he cannot.. So it isn't a matter of professional help... he has gotten all of the professional help that he will ever have and that is very limited.. so now it is up to me to try and figure out what the heck is going on and figure out something to do about it... and I think I can do that with the help of you all... Someone with his particular problem is going to eventually see this and respond, in the mean while, I am going to listen to all you people have to offer in the way of suggestions as I think you have a good handle on hyper-sensory problems and you communicate very well.. Thank you

I am not bothered by the loudness of it its really just the sound of it. I don't go into a "scary rage" but i honestly can't stand it. It's a lot easier to deal with snoring i guess because it only happens at night and i have never met people who sleep walk so the people who are snoring don't move around. But coughing is uncontrolable and can happen any time during the day so I have no idea how you could control that 100%.

goes i definitely don't think its the sound causing physical pain. For me with snoring its simply irritating to an unbearable level and I don't even know why it is. I do have very sensitive hearing but like I said i sleep with fan or AC because it makes sound (but at least its a constant sound).

Hope this helps and best of luck!

Although (obviously) I can't say that this is what your son is feeling when he hears a cough, if it is anything like my reaction to children screaming/crying, dogs barking, high pitched ('non-audible') sounds, a constant thumping beat or the background noise on an anologue radio (there are many more but I can't write them all down!) it is because the noise is REALLY hurting him. For me, when I hear a 'trigger' noise, it makes my brain feel all electric and I start to shake. It affects me physically, throwing my balance off (I have hyperacusis which can cause balance problems) often resulting in me falling over, it makes me shake and panic, which eventually leads to total meltdown. The thing is for me, if the noise isn't stopped immediately, the meltdown will happen. Unfortunately coughs cannot be turned off, so the only thing I can recommend is hearing mufflers (much like the ones shown) or earplugs and that's if he's okay with the physical sensation of having these on as I find the hearing protecters a little uncomfortable myself. Some of it is about control as well, not being able to control the noises around me can upset me a lot. Often I wish I could lose 20% of my hearing...