Weird Paradox with sound
DinoMongoosePenguin
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: 21 Aug 2015
Gender: Male
Posts: 176
Location: The NSA Knows
I have this weird paradox with sound.
When I want it, it's great, when I am wanting quiet or just indifferent or am focused on something, it's a royal pain.
For instance, if I am listening the the Cubs NCLS game (I am a Cubs fans), then I am fine.
If my Dad just plays the radio (other than classical music which I like), I get annoyed, especially if he turns it up louder and louder.
If I am watching a movie I like, I don't mind the sound. (This could be a movie or a youtube video.)
However, if my Dad is blaring the TV (I've been tempted to call him "The British Prime Minister (Tony BLARE)), especially as he loves to blare it, if I'm not interested in what's on or if I am indifferent and just am eating or drinking something there at the table (we have no door between dining room and living room), then it drives me NUTS.
Another thing that tends to irk me is when someone will change the radio station on a car over and over. I somehow subconsciously focus on whatever is on and, when it keeps changing, it's like torture. (I cannot explain it!)
Another thing that annoys me, and this happened recently, is when people are loud in restaurant. While I get bothered if it is loud in general, what REALLY gets me is if it's just regular and someone nearby is being loud (think obnoxious dude on cell phone in a theater kind of annoying or so it seems). (The case recently was a guy who was talking really loud at a birthday party with a kid. He was joking and stuff, but he was doing it LOUDLY. Made the whole experience at being at the restaurant, which was nice, quite unpleasant to the point where I kept eating fast, even in line (much to my parents's annoyance), and wanted to get out of there and move further away. (Also, I cannot handle where both happen (loud generally and nearby, so going to a Hard Rock Cafe with a loud person nearby would be utter misery!)
Another thing that really irks me is kids screaming. (Could be babies or even younger kids. I know kids were screaming, even though it had to be about 50 feet away, but they were still young and hence could hit a high pitch and it was ANNOYING. Babies crying also annoy me.)
This is also really weird. I can sleep with music on, with sound on (though that's not as strong and will either wake me up maybe an hour or two later, but will affect my dreams if I listen to an audiobook and happen to fall asleep while listening to it.)
Also, in school, I was able to listen to a bunch of Youtube videos, which I was found online and that had music and maybe some singing, but when it went to a Youtube ad which started talking, I woke up out of nearly a dead sleep, thinking someone was right next to me. (Likely though, this was, due me wanting to hear the video over my fan and because the fan was so stinking loud, having the computer which was playing the playlists right next to me on a chair while I slept. (Because, on the flip side, I listen to a classical music station online and it sometimes will go to a guy talking about the piece and it usually DOESN'T wake me up, so I think the position of the computer relative to me matters.) Also, I can sleep through a thunderstorm and only wake up because I kept dreaming that someone was bowling (glad it did wake me up, as I was ALREADY late for class!)
But, on the flip side, sometimes just my Dad, even though he is quiet, will wake me up around 6 or 7 because that is when he goes to work. (Though, I think, after a few days of that happening, my body programs itself to wake itself up at that time, so maybe it's not just sound sensitivity. I do, also, have parents who are total opposites in their sleep patterns. My Mom will stay up till like 3 or 4 a.m. and then sleep till 12 or later. My Dad goes to bed at like 9 or so, then gets up at 5 or 6, or, at the latest, 7. Hence one of them is likely waking me up in the night. I've also found myself often waking up at 3 or so, so I think my Mom is waking me up too. Between the two of them and their sleeping habits, it's hard to get 8 or more hours of sleep.
Also, our house creaks.) However, and this is bizarre, during school, and even once later, I was near a train track (my school room was 3 or so floors up and about 30 to 40 yards from a train track) yet rarely got woken up by the trains.
I wonder what the medical term for this is and if it's part of ASD...
I too have (I'll call it:) "selective annoyance" to some degree.
When I was in middle school I HATED it when kids turned on their mini-speakers (those with the sh***y sound). And the guy next to me was the ultimate blabbermouth, he always talked during class. I wanted to strangle him so badly...
I think it's because we aren't prepared/ready to cope with the sensory input, which often includes trying to focus on something else. It's much easier to bear it when there's some anticipation and strong deliberate focus involved.
I think that's it. I think it's part of our tendency to want to control our environment--what kind of input comes into our brains. So I can be fine listening to MY music (folk, country, classical, classic rock, world music, older metal) but am driven to distraction by music I don't like (hip hop, death metal, pop rock, pop stars singing Christmas tunes, and anybody who sings. off. key. gaaaah). We can't tune out external input well, but can choose input (our sounds) that enhances our thought patterns. I watch TV or listen to the radio when I paint or draw, because it keeps me from getting distracted. I sometimes don't even pay attention to the sound, it's like white noise.
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Diagnosed Bipolar II in 2012, Autism spectrum disorder (moderate) & ADHD in 2015.

