Cover your ears if it is loud or inordinately noisy?

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I was just wondering how many other people do this?

I was just talking to an NT friend/acquaintance of mine, and they mentioned that it is not socially acceptable to cover ones ears when some loud noise has manifested itself in the environment, for example, a car or train passing by or the horn of a car or train. I learned (via bullying) in high school that it is VERY unacceptable to cover one's ears. However, not only do I eschew this social norm if the noise is significant and loud enough, but I think it is down right asinine.

Why do NTs care if another person is upset by a sound and then covers their ears? On a tangentially related note, I've always wondered why NTs are SO VERY UPSET by AS people tip-toe-ing around. I do this frequently enough, and am always amazed at the fact that some NT around that gets so upset by this that they demand I stop "toe-walking" and then claim its bad for my shoes or my health or simply unutterably "freakish"- as if it were some personal affront. Although, I suppose one could around that eschewing or not complying with NT social norms despite being of "the same culture" IS a personal affront.

If someone told me that covering my ears was unacceptable they wouldn't be my friend for very much longer. Yes, when I hear a loud noise, I cover my ears because it's more important to me that I'm not in pain from the sound than what NTs think.

Why? Because NTs like the ones you describe have a supremacy complex-they think the world revolves around them and expect everyone else to be a clone of them and do things their way. I'm these peoples' worst nightmare-I flap my arms, jump up and down, make noises to myself and say "random" things. Then if you try to tell them to back off and stop trying to tell you what to do they get defensive...I'm always thinking, I was not bothering you and I said nothing about the things you do that I don't like or understand, until you started telling me to be socially acceptable.

I would rather spend my whole life alone and do the things I need and want to do than be surrounded by fake people.

And to add about the toe walking, I do that too and people say the same things because they don't like it. I remove those people from my life. Pity for them.

Last edited by rude1 on 08 Feb 2016, 11:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Sometimes I will stick my fingers in my ears in an exaggerated fashion because I want the world to know when I think the noise is as pleasant to listen to as having one's own toenails being pulled out, one by one. If people think that's rude, well tough!

When my friend/acquaintence said this they did not mean it in a belligerent or derrogatory way. I asked them what the proto-typical NT stance was on this (at least in our area) and they responded that it was not considered very socially-acceptable. They were merely answering my question.

Depending on how loud the sound is I will cover my ears accordingly. I generally however find all manner of various things to be "horrifically loud" so I just wear a lot of headphones and ear plugs and such.

Haha! that's one way of getting your message across.

I do cover my ears if there's a loud sound. If it's something like a siren or motorcycle, I'll just cover my ears for a second until it passes, but if it's an ongoing noise like loud music, I'll get out my earplugs to put in to free up my hands.

I have never thought of covering your ears as socially unacceptable, unless maybe you cover your ears when someone's trying to talk to you or something like that. In fact, during fire alarms and such, you often see people covering their ears as they move out of the building.

Oh, I didn't get that.

Wow....I've never seen anybody NOT cover their ears when loud noises are around.

What person told you something like that? That's insane.

I always cover my ears around loud sounds, including in anticipation of what I think might be a loud sound, like someone standing precariously close to a vacuum cleaner, or about to put something heavy down. My co-workers at work even warn me and say, "Cover your ears" before they do anything which they know is going to be too loud for me. I have an exaggerated startle response and will jump, flinch and cry out at any unexpected sound, whether it's loud or not. Even someone coming up behind me and saying my name in a normal tone will trigger this response, and I'm sure me looking like I'm ducking for cover out of the way of a bomb explosion is less socially acceptable than just covering my ears!

Haha, I not only cover my ears around loud noises, but also when I hear quieter unpleasant ones. Like the sound of others eating.

If the noise is loud, I'll cover both ears. With eating sounds, I try to be less obvious in public, so I might bury one ear into my shoulder nearest to the offensive sound.

I'll also just leave the room if I can. I really don't care if it's appropriate or not, I'm not going to suffer needlessly.

I guess I'm lucky I can just reach up and turn down my hearing aids (or off if necessary). As with ear plugging, if NT's think it's rude, then it's just too bad.

I do this too. And I don't care if people think it's weird.
But I have also seen NT people do this, partially I suppose as a defence to sound, partially as said above to communicate that the sound is too loud. I didn't do it for ages because I assumed it was unacceptable, but when I have started doing it, such as plugging my ears moving a relative's lawn, I find that it is accepted by people nowadays as just being mindful of protecting your hearing.

Of all the goofy things people do, I don't see how something like that would make the list. But I am guessing it has to do with displaying a sign of weakness. I'm finding out a lot of what is socially acceptable and unacceptable, has to do with primitive warrior customs. Shaking hands, removing your hat, a lot of stuff. So like your warrior ancestors, you should display defiance against that loud noise by not covering your ears. Even if they're bleeding.

Nobody in the NT world says it is bad manners or bad or impolite. This is not an NT vs ND thing.
Don't know, don't care what the OP may or may not have been told, but it is definitely not a universal NT, "This is bad" thing.

As Rockymntchris says, most of them turn down their hearing aides too.

And I think C2V is right. People look at it as protecting the ears too.

I have a theory that most people by adulthood have damaged their hearing through listening to excessively loud music. So loud noises may not be so bad for them. I usually cover my ears when the train passes, or when people slam pallets. Sometimes my coworkers ignore me, other times they actually get the hint.

It may seem strange to cover ears in public because of the fact most people don't. So some people may come to the erroneous conclusion that it's "rude". That may be where your friend is coming from. There's no written rule or code about these things.

I had to cover my ears all the time during fire drills from elementary to high school, and while I didn't get made fun of for that, I did receive some quizzical looks. The community college I'm at right now doesn't have loud fire alarms, which I'm glad about, but I am worried about them when I get to a university later this year.