Certain sounds are making me feel more irritable - Why?

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Certain sounds are making me extremely irritable lately. I'm trying to understand why this is happening to me. Normally I feel so irritable when I hear someone sip tea, I literally cannot be in the same room. But lately its happening with my mum hoovering the floors. It just ruins my day.

I only recently got diagnosed with autism (I was 38 at the time), so I am trying to understand myself better and want to know if this is part of being autistic.

I'm no doctor, but it could be misophonia.

I agree with lostonearth that what you're experiencing is described as misophonia.

It sounds like you're describing it becoming worse recently. Has your threshold for handling irritation/annoyance/frustration in general changed recently, or is it just when bad sounds are involved?

I have read that the perception of perfect pitch is more common in people on the spectrum, though even among us I wonder how common or rare it is. I have trouble with discordant sound, but I don't have perfect pitch perception. I was greatly suprised to learn I had an unusually high level of detecting very high pitch sound perception beyond normal - unfortunately. However my hearing range for low pitch aligns with normal findings.

If I ever become a dictator the first thing I'll ban will be leaf blowers....

Yes! They are so terrible. I find them unbearable.

To the OP, since the bothersome effect of the noises has gotten worse, I wonder if there are other stressors in your life that are decreasing your tolerance for noises that are bothersome but that you were better able to handle until recently.

Thank you all for the responses. Turns out I was coming down with something which is probably why I was feeling extra sensitive to sounds.