thanks everyone for your thoughts! keep them coming! we aspies and auties do not talk much about anything, and sensation/perception is very unique to the individual person, so these insights you are all offering are so valuable!
some specific replies:
- thanks those of you who liked it!
- millie: knives in ears. this is exactly what it feels like for me, only i couldn't think how to describe it. it's a thin, sharp, stabbing pain - knife fits well. most painful noises have at least one knife in at least one of my ears. i also have issues with auditory processing (apd). it's incredible how huge a role the apd plays. i was watching an ad on youtube at a too-loud volume, and then my fiance's phone rang (it has a musical ringtone so goes on for a bit), and i swear i could not have heard a thing on youtube even if i had put my ear on the speaker. (not that i would have wanted to.)
- maditude: ahh... chicken pox! oh dear! although today i was tempted to deliberately deafen myself by listening to 80dB sounds or something. gosh. (the sound of my own voice was hurting my ears. that's pretty annoying.)
- kingdomofrats: the new soundproof residential place sounds awesome - as does the car if you get to have a soundproof one! i am really interested in the way you experience sound sensations, it seems extremely unpleasant. what levels of sounds are you comfortable with? talking, whispering, breathing? footsteps? what about the sounds you make around your residence, do they bother you too? i don't mean to be rude, i am just fascinated by others' experience of sound.
- peko: me too, loud and high pitched is definitely bad. i am not as touch sensitive as i am sound sensitive. i mean, i stim with touch and balance, but an unpleasant touch doesn't worry me as much the same "unpleasantness" of sound. no typos and misspellings! (i don't think i have ever heard a can opener make a sound? maybe i have not seen enough can openers being used, haha.)
- englishlulu: yeah, birds... like crickets... eesh. i have taken some wp-ers' advice to dig up all the patches of weeds within a 3 metre radius of my window, but they must have grown back because the crickets are back again!!
- age: thanks haha, the drawing tablet made it look good!! noise cancelling headphones sounds like something i need to invest in (i guess my problem is i only ever like listening to one song at a time, on repeat, a bit of a waste to get an ipod just for that!). i also get bothered by people coughing. i don't know if it is just my sensitivity but my fiance and my father have annoyingly loud coughs and sneezes, when they look like they're about to do either, i've learnt subconsciously to react by clapping my hands to my ears. yeah, i also find being in my "own world" as in a space that i enjoy being in, helps with sound. noise cancelling machine!! i want one of those!! i guess they are really expensive though.
i also get bothered by being in the kitchen at dinner prep time. a slammed cutlery drawer is like the knives in ears thing. the sound of the tap being turned on in the sink at full blast is also very knives in ears. add to that the continuous roaring of the stove fan and you can imagine i am really struggling to peel the cold, slippery potatoes like i have just been instructed to...
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- Liresse