Noise drives me nuts. Fingernails tapping on a desk. The sound of people chewing. A dog slurping its water. The sniffle of someone with a cold. It is so irritating it is almost physically painful to me. Tonight Mr. V got really pissed at me because a Cindy Crawford commercial’s insane rhythm was making my skin crawl and I couldn’t take it anymore. I seriously cannot be the only one out there with this weird condition. And a condition it is. I seriously could not sit through a meal with my parents as a teenager because the sound of my mother chewing would make me want to gouge my eyeballs out. Anyone? Anyone?!?!
Noise Sensitivity
21
Dec
ashish
March 20, 2010 at 9:29 am
yeah! same with me
i’m 15 and i can’t stand the noise of people
rubbing there feet or hands
or sounds like paper being rubbed on a board.
i just cannot stand it feels like woo!
heck bad
Ian
January 26, 2010 at 6:25 am
Hi. I am “allergic” to the sound of people chewing, slurping, pouring hot drinks, stirring cups noisily, whistling – and also the sight of people jiggling their legs constantly. I have been this way since about the age of 12. I get instantly enraged, except that the number of “triggers” has increased over the years.
It is called “Selective Sound Sensitivity Syndrome” (or 4S), and it is probably a neurological condition – quite possibly inherited. It tends to run in families.
You can read about it here: http://audiology.advanceweb.com/Article/Selective-Sound-Sensitivity-Syndrome.aspx
and even join a group of similar people here: http://www.soundsensitive.org/
and here: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Soundsensitivity
This last-mentioned group is run by the audiologist who wrote the article – the only real research done so far into this condition.
Jim
January 7, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Melanie, yes rubbing feet with socks – OH MY GOD, my mum used to do it every evening, she’d put her feet up on the foot stool and rub her nylon stockings against each other for hours, sometimes I would have to leave. Eating and what not too…. I was always made to feel like I was just uptight – yes, I am freaking uptight because everything annoyed me so much! ha!
ptlawmom
December 25, 2009 at 9:22 am
ROFL Melanie! I am also bad about smells. Got totally smacked down one year when I tried to put out air freshener on my cubicle (no high walls – you could see the person next to you) because the guy next to me smoked like a chimney. Bleech!
Melanie
December 24, 2009 at 9:35 pm
I laughed uncontrollably as I read your post. Then I had to reread it to my husband. He hasn’t been able to “enjoy” a meal in 5 yrs. because it drives me nuts to listen to him. Also the person who posted about the guy coming over the cubicle wall for the candy wrapper (I am so him. You breath wrong and I am flippin’ out. My family just calls me a b*tch, but really it is an almost uncontrollable reaction. I had to stop going to movie theaters because I couldn’t stand listening to the people with the wrappers and god forbid someone sat by me who was eating popcorn!
I think I also have an issue visually with people when they eat or drink….sheesh—-I need help don’t I?!?!
OH and holy crap if someone is rubbing their feet together especially when they have socks on!!!
Joshiesmom
December 22, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Same things happens to me when I hear music w/electric guitars wailing. I would nearly rather leap from a moving vehicle than hear it.
je
December 22, 2009 at 12:01 pm
YES. I have this problem. I feel bad because people close to me (my parents, my husband) sometimes get hurt and think that it’s *them* that’s the problem. No… it’s the chewing noise at dinner or the clicking noise of you picking your nails. When we were kids, the sound of my brother pressing the buttons on the Nintendo controller even did it for me sometimes. I once told my mom I thought I was autistic after watching a program about autism where they mentioned sensitivity to noises as a symptom. She laughed in my face. (I’m not autistic, as it turns out.) I have often wondered what causes this! I go back and forth… is it psychological? Then why do I physically have to remove myself from situations or scratch inconspicuously at my ear to drown out the sound? Anyway, all this to say, you are NOT alone!
debra
December 22, 2009 at 9:02 am
Nope, you’re not the only one, I know two others. My son has been extremely sensitive to noise since birth. Unless he’s the one causing the noise (and can therefore control its volume, pace, tone, duration) he’ll get up and leave a room that is too noisy for him. Kindergarden was a tough adjustment for him. Second person is a guy in my office. He’ll come over his office wall on you if you spend more than a nano second crumbling up a wrapper from a hard candy….drives him insane!