How loud is too loud?

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This post may be a bit lengthy, hopefully not rambling though. I recently experienced what I can only assume was a case of sensory overload. I was already tired from unrelated events when the sounds of the road, the brightness of sky, the feel of my own clothes even became too much and i felt extremely overwhelmed and unwell. It only got better once I was in a quiet room.

This was a few weeks ago and hasn't happened since, not has it happened any time before than I can recall. However, it has got me thinking about my sensory sensitivities that I've never really examined before. A friend said to me, "Maybe because you were already stressed, the issues you normally have at a low level became heightened like that."

So I thought and I have realised that a lot of times, things are too loud (city roads where i live, movies at the cinema, fireworks) and stressors (busy supermarkets, arcades, loud cafes), but I always assumed that everyone else feels the same way.
For example, I was under the impression that everyone finds the cinema volume too loud, but it's part of going to the cinema that you have to accept. The same with clubs; nobody actually likes how loud the music is or how many people you might bump arms with, but the alcohol makes it more tolerable.

If that isn't the case - and I don't have enough friends to conduct a proper investigation into what people find "too loud" - then it seems I have had minor sensory issues all my life and never noticed it.

Does anyone have experience or a study to show what kind of sensitivity to things is a "normal" level? For example, what decibel measurement becomes uncomfortable for the average neurotypical, and for the average aspie?
I'm very curious to know the exacts, or even your personal experiences of learning that your sensitivity of hearing/vision/touch/smell is perhaps greater than usual.

I think everyone is different as is every situation.

Somedays I have the radio on a "normal" level, or quieter or louder. I guess it all depends on background noise that I have no control over. I can also see everything changes on being stressed out. That would definitely make things worse for me. But then some stresses make me want it louder, although most makes me turn it off.

Being 63, I learned long ago to go with the flow & not worry about it too much. Up, down off - whatever works will make me happy.

I have very sensitive hearing. For example I pay attention to noises no one else thinks are loud. One thing I find annoying is the bus the worst thing ever is people talking on the bus it gives me a headache. The cinema volume I agree on but it's still tolerable. I would never go to a club due to the sound level and I don't even like to get drunk. Concerts make me terribly anxious even if i'm going to see a band I love it sucks because I know how loud the volume is gonna be and it's terrible, I wear ear plugs but I hate the feeling of them.

To say how loud is too loud is sort of difficult, in general it varies a lot. But for example if i'm sitting in a crowded place with a friend and we're talking - and i'm trying to focus on hearing my friend while also not being able to shut out everyone around us talking... It gets too much quite fast and I get a headache. My reaction to sensory overload is always headaches as well as getting really tired. In school when I was much younger my classmates would occasionally make fun of me for covering my ears at certain loud noises that they didn't care about. It was a relief finding out when I got my diagnose that my sensitivity to noise has a reason and that i'm not just overreacting.

When a person raises their voice at me out of anger. I'm also beginning to find some rock music to be too loud for me, especially the heavier stuff recorded after the mid 70s.

That's how it works for me, and my reactivity to noise is such that it's a pretty good indicator of my stress level. Another thing; it's probably projection, but at times sounds can seem to me to have emotional undertones; things like chainsaws, leafblowers, outboard motors, etc. sometimes sound aggressive, belligerent, and hostile to me. Needless to say, that doesn't help my stress level.

It was being in a too loud environment that got me ill enough to get a diagnosis. I work in a moderately loud factory.

Specifically the over-tannoy radio at work seems to be the trigger that stresses me out the most if it is too loud.

Volume, per se, is not too much of a problem if everything is at the same volume. If one thing out of the cacophony is louder than the others then soon it will start to irritate me.

Thinking back all the area's I've worked in inside the building I was the most stressed if too near a speaker pod.

These days the one nearest me is turned off.

Things that grate for me are constant talking (wittering) and adverts on the radio. Having Sky+ is a blessed relief for me as most telly watching is time shifted so we don't need to endure the adverts.

Being stressed will make things sound louder - "fight or flight" - you are being extra attentive to look for an escape route.

I don't really realize that something is too loud until it's already bothering me.

Not just volume, but also frequencies need to be taken into account. High-pitched frequencies are difficult for me; whether it's leaks in compressed air pipes, or a cheap set of speakers with too much treble.

I am the only one who can hear the air leaks at work - and from some distance too.

If there is a new noise I always go and find what is causing it.

Being stressed definitely exacerbates my overall sensitivity to the senses.

I'm amazed at how an NT brain can unconsciously filter background noises to the background. Mine can not do that.

I will NEVER go to a movie theater without having foam ear plugs. Never.

I used to attend many rock concerts in my youth, often without ear plugs. Some were so loud they hurt. A lot of the time though I wasn't really phased because I was drinking and such.

I believe that if most people really stopped to listen to the world around us, the ambient sounds of human activity, only then would people realize that humans are EXTREMELY NOISY. No one seems to give much thought to all of the NOISE POLLUTION that people create. Most other animal species remain as quiet as possible or keep their squawking to an acceptable level. Not people. I think we'd all feel better if as a species we were consciously mindful of trying to keep our activity at a peaceable level. The world is far too loud. My WP user name, Magna, is latin for sound/loud/big and I picked it for that reason.

The noise level doesn't have to bust your eardrums to be annoying. I find some soft noises irritating as well.

When you can't hear yourself think, it isn't just annoying. It can be harmful.

Parties can be really hard for me. Besides the fact that there are just too many people in the room, they're all talking at once. I hear them all equally, and it's almost impossible to pick out the conversation I'm trying to have with the person in front of me from all of the background voices.