Anybody else who suffers from noise? how do you cope?

[Metonym]

Your skepticism of psychology is understandable, but I wonder if it might be misinformed with the expectation that psychology is supposed to "fix" things. I know I didn't put much stock in the idea that someone could help me sort out experiences that I couldn't even fully explain to him. What I can say is that what warmed me to psychology was an explanation that it's not about finding solutions, but defining problems; figuring out how many of your little problems are just one big one, or how what you thought were big ones break down into little ones. There's something in the human mind, or the soul, some say, that answers the call of organized problems. Your therapist will not be all-knowing, but she won't need to be.

Mind you, it's your human mind/soul that does the answering, and that's all that psychology will enable for you. It will be an exploration of your problems, and the answers will start with you. If taking that responsibility seriously isn't continually the hardest part of the process, then... Count yourself lucky, truly.
Edit:

Spoiler

Or maybe don't. Maybe that sort of difficulty is the sort of thing that gives us something to push against and carry on in life. Who knows?

As for singing, I think I have a story-ish answer and a more utilitarian one for you, and I wonder which one you'd prefer.

 

[Freezee]

Ideas I can think of are "dislike it less" and/or "come to understanding with it" for what you're saying.

When you dislike/hate something, it's very easy to become hyper aware of its existence. Or at least, that's how it was for me.

Definitely easier said than done though. Daily emotional condition will affect how much progress you make converting logical understanding to your "natural mindset" per say. It is difficult + time consuming to alter the longterm mindset and keep it that way after all. It may not even be possible to really recognize the option(s) without an external trigger too. Even in good conditions, might take years to be able to look back and notice the change.

I'm not sure if any of this will help, but those are my thoughts based on my life experiences. I was not thinking exclusively of noise related issues, but things that irritated/angered me as a whole. Noise is some part of that however.

...This is also the somewhat concise version. Tons and tons of text I kept deleting and rewriting to not sound like a superiority complex ass or mean something entirely different/derogatory/confrontational. Since I really don't intend for any of that.

On the topic of noise specifically though: I'd recently began sleeping with earplugs. Could see if those help in any way? They can physically irritate a bit though, and would need to buy an ear cleaning kit (non Qtip/cotton swab) + sanitizer (alcohol) to clean ears out every few weeks/ a month. At least imo.

 

[Ragea]

@mochi Sorry if you felt targetted with my comment about psychology, that wasn't my intention, but reading your answer I realized that what I posted could be perceived in such a matter. As I said, it wasn't my intention and I apologize if I offended you in any way... I didn't mean to imply that the fault was yours at all, I wanted to make you realize that your other surroundings, beside noise, might exacerbate your perception of that problem.
And the part about religious order was meant as a tongue-in-cheek joke to lighten my post.

What I really hoped to point out was that there's probably other factors that you may not have thought about and that they may cause you stress in your life. Your body might react to those stress by being "hyper-aware" of your surroundings, like your hyper-sensitivity to noise in your case. Said hyper-sensitivity might not be the root-cause of your stress, but an aggravating side-effect. Taking care of the root case might attenuate the side-effect.

From your other posts in this thread, I gather that you're most likely not in the best situation right now. The only thing I can give you are a few advises that worked for me but, each individual being different, might not have as much success for you :

- Disconnect and isolate yourself in an area where you can mentally recharge. In my case, I could never really calm down in the city I live in, so I drive out to a forest when I need it, walk a good 15 minutes deeper in the woods, and then sit there for an hour or 2 in peace, alone.
- Cut ties with toxic peoples. That's the hardest thing to do, especially when it's a family member. But let's face it, when you're constantly watching for the signs that someone will get angry, it's hard to relax when they are around. Maybe that's even one of the cause for you to be hyper aware of noise...
- Re-think your dependancies. Everybody needs something to feel that their day if fullfilled. Maybe it's that snack you eat when you get back from work, maybe it's those 20 pages of a book you read before going to sleep. Once you found it, ask yourself : Do the burden lessen while I'm fulfilling that urge? Think about why you need it and what it brings to your life. Put emphasis on positive dependancies, things that you see in a positive light, and reward yourself more often to uplift yourself. Beware abuse, of course, but reward yourself as necessary.
-Most of all, protect yourself. Right now your body is telling you something is not right. Listen to it. Seek a way to make it right. Don't just think that it will fix itself with time. My ex eventually realized that city life wasn't for her, so she dumped everything (me included) to move to a small town 4 hours drive away. To this day, she keep saying it's the best decision she ever took.


Well, that post is a lot longer, and a lot more "preachy" than I intended. I'd sum it up by saying : Do what needs to be done to make you feel better. Nobody will have better answers than you yourself can find.

 

[crazybars]

@mochi

I used to live in a Rural College town. Those farmers are LOUDLY driving up the two lane roads to the fields close by at 5-7 Am in the morning when I was sleeping. I tell you, those farmers are crazy loud when they're using farming equipment.


So what I would do was buy some Earplugs and shove them in my ear when I sleep and when I was awake I would do what Dandan suggested and use Headphones and listen to music when I'm awake.


My room mate would also play Videos and music on a constant loop on his Speakers to drown out the noise in repetitive noisiness but I don't know if you would like that.

 

[mochi]

@Ragea thank'you for your concern, I didn't feel blamed by you, actually. It's some people in real life, they will say "stop being such an old man", "stop complaining, it's just noise"... Your advice is very helpful, I'll try to practice it.

@crazybars That reminds me of Barakamon 😄 I use earplugs a lot too, alternating with headphones.

 

[mochi]

@Metonym well, I don't really need help understanding the problem, as it's very clear to me; the problem is finding viable solutions and the energy to implement... I know for example that there are countries where quiet is much much more protected and valued, but moving to a new completely foreign country is a huge undertaking.

@Freezee that will help scaling down my hypersensitivity, which I developed after the traumatic noise exposure, but many times the noise is just unacceptable to anyone with good ears. I too get pain from earplugs after a while, so I try to keep them to "emergency" situations (including early morning when I still need to sleep).

 

[deSolAxe]

Sorry to hear, I never really had any problem with noise - even when I rented room right above a pub I slept like a baby...

The few people I know who have issues with this either invested in upper-tier noise cancelling headphones (you can't hear people shouting in the same room with those on), but that was really expensive venture for them... or do spend prolonged time in middle of nowhere. My brother for example spends about an hour jogging every morning and given that he lives at the edge of small town and jogs in the direction of the fields at the dawn... there often wouldn't be other people in few kilometre radius.

Also try meditation. once a week I would go to this forest few kilometres away from the town, sit at this clearing and for few hours just breath. Without any devices, just concentrate on your own breath and blood-flow.

Or if you are feeling adventurous, try experimenting with some of those apps which let you hear specific frequencies, maybe you'l find one that distracts you from the other noise.

Ultimately, go see your doctor, from the OP, you didn't suffer this much before and then it suddenly started.
That sounds suspicious to me, go see your doctor, if nothing else, you'll have more information.

 

[mochi]

@deSolAxe thank'you. I'm going tomorrow to the doctor.
The suffering started suddenly, but because of a factual huge spike in environmental noise (new heavily barking dogs brought in by my next-door neighbors).
I didn't know those noise-cancelling headphones actually worked that good! But I heard that some researchers are expressing concern that white noise might damage brain functionality. Coupled with their cost, I've been hesitant about them. Also, I don't want to become enslaved to them, I wish to be like you, just not caring about noise.

 

[Nick_Asano]

I don't. I just put up with it, somehow. It's why I absolutely HATED going to church when I was little; because the songs were so long, so repetitive, and worst of all loud as fuck. I dislike the texture of sheets, church slacks, button downed shirts and the like, but the textile agony is multiplied by a million when mixed with incredibly loud music and stirred with old people waving their hands in the air like a cockroach waves it's antennae in slow motion.

 

[bigtiddyoneesan]

Halloween Necro Festival 2020

Eh, certain noises can be unpleasant, especially after a while. I'm kind of weird in that I don't really mind listening to noises (even songs on repeat) for hours at a time, especially if I'm preoccupied with something else.

I always have my fan on in my room tho. That's some good ambient noise.

 

[aloysiusks]

with even louder noise! full volume baby!!!!