Cover your ears if it is loud or inordinately noisy?

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I wish NTs wouldn't judge people who put their fingers in their ears, I mean it's not that fantastically different. It's no different to coughing, clearing your throat, blowing your nose, smoking a cigarette, etc. Nothing really socially threatening to society.

surprisingly, i dont cover my ears all that often. if a loud sound happens, i am jumpy and ill probably cry, but i guess always holding something so my hands are kind of occupied. i more cover my ears if theres too many sounds, or if somebodys voice is making me uncomfortable. for example, in two of my school classes, i usually have headphones to muffle out noise, otherwise i start to freak out a little and plug my ears with my fingers. also im usually very afraid of looking weird to other people (probably because of bullying from the past) so i might have stopped covering my ears? im not sure how much i did it when i was younger.

I'm afraid of looking different to others too, I know a lot of Aspies say I should do what I want and not worry about what other people think, but that is like someone without anxiety issues telling a highly anxious person to just not be anxious. It ain't going to happen.

Wow, I've never heard that one, and my Mom never hesitated to tell me if I was doing something even slightly socially unacceptable, odd, or even a little weird. She would even chastise me if I laughed too loudly.

It might be bad to do this if someone is talking to you, but otherwise, no. The point of good manners is to make social interactions easier, so usually the person making the loud noise is the one intruding on other people's sense of well-being. As far as I know, it's fine to protect your ears, particularly if hearing loss is a possibility. You can even ask the noisy person, in a calm voice, to please turn down the volume of their radio or stop honking their horn, so long as you don't think they are likely to get hostile about it. I think earplugs and ear protectors are acceptable too, if one is not at a social gathering and expected to have a conversation. I work in a computer lab, which can get pretty noisy with conversations, and several of us regularly put on headphones if we need to concentrate. If someone wants my attention, they tap me gently on the shoulder or wave, and nobody is offended.

Other people may find it a little odd, but I don't know of anyone who would actually think that it is rude or socially unacceptable. I usually only cover one ear, to be a little bit less obvious, but to still provide some relief. I have absolutely no shame in shutting my office door or putting in headphones if the people around me are being too noisy, though.

As for the toe-walking, speaking from experience it actually is bad for your feet and shoes. However, that doesn't stop me from doing it.

Aaah! I wonder about this. I have a relative who is hard of hearing and watching movies together is difficult as I can hear everything and she nothing. She jokingly said we should "share" our hearing and we'd both be normal. But I'm actually worried about my hearing getting damaged, even though I am adverse to noise. Loud noise is everywhere, especially living in the city. Every cafe, shopping centre, shop you walk into has music blaring, people yelling, babies screaming, etc. There are train noises, road / air traffic noises, perpetual bloody construction noises where I am. You're exposed all the time. Even if you wear noise cancelling headphones, you still have to take them off to order a coffee or pay a cashier. My relative assumes she got hearing loss from working an old fashioned book keeping machine. Unless it was one hell of a machine, it seemingly didn't take much to damage the hearing. She's not the rave type. Maybe we're all very modern people going very deaf? Even though I have misophonia issues I don't want to lose my hearing. I have bad eyesight already!

It is if the noise isn't that loud to them.

No, actually it's not. Sorry, but I always have to cover my ears or put my finger in it if a sound bothers me.

I really don't know who you guys hang around, but in 55 years, nobody has ever corrected me about covering my ears.