Quiet Places & Sensory Issues

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I was in a library on the internet yesterday and became distressed and overwhelmed by three teenagers who were talking. They weren't talking very loud, but because the backdrop to their conversation was extremely quiet, their conversation cut straight through me and consequently I was so distracted from my task at hand.

I live in Central London and travel the tube every day. What I find really curious is that I have actually written a book on the tube. Writing and reading on the tube is my way of wearing blinkers to distract me from the mayhem.

It seems my sensory issues only go through the roof when intrusive sounds are experienced within the background of stillness. Like I say in a quiet train carriage, or say an empty church whilst it is being cleaned, for it is in such environments I feel disarmed and as a result have not build up a tolerance.

As a Quaker one of my favourite experiences is quaker meeting for worship where we gather in complete silence. Often a simple cough or a child being restless in such an environment can be more overwhelming that being in Oxford Street the day before Christmas.

I was curious if this experience of noise within contained environments is problematic for others here?



Wishing you all well from Central London.

I find that it not so much the loudness/volume of the sound that is the problem. But the complexity of it as well as changes in the volume. It's mostly newly introduced sounds or sounds that have rhythm to them, that cause my brain to lock on to them. Trying to tune-in or tune-out multiple voices in a room can be a challenge as well.

This experience is familiar to me also. its the contrast between background noise and foreground noise if that is the right wording.

The telephone bell in my room makes me leap to the ceiling because it sounds so loud.
My roommate's cell phone makes me jump out of my skin because it sounds too loud.
Joggers coming up behind me and saying "to the left", to jog past me, startles me every time.
Car horns make me curse every time because their sound just cuts through my reverie and distracts me.
Dogs barking and babies crying make me curl my toes every time.
Yes, teenagers talking too loudly in a library makes me want to bury my head in the sand.

It's an issue for me as well. It's quiet here at work today and earlier someone dropped something hard into a metal wastebasket. The abrupt "bong" nearly caused me to faint.

Not fun.

You said the kids weren't talking very loudly----sometimes, "quiet" noises can drive me just as crazy----or, can be even MORE disturbing, to me, than loud noises. Where I live, I can hear people talking, down, on the street (I live in an apartment {flat}), and it's like someone whispering in a movie house (theatre)----and, it drives me NUTS!! Sometimes a loud noise, I can tune-out, more easily----I don't know why.....