Inspired by a recent thread. This question might be triggering, so be careful. For me, even imagining these sounds is mildly upsetting.
Basically, which noises immediately ruin your day? For me it’s mostly sudden loud sounds, in order of most awful descending:
Tap for sounds
- Unmuffled compression brakes (when trucks or buses stop and go BANG)
- Smoke detector / emergency alarms
- Emergency services sirens
- Balloons popping
- Car horns / honking
- Angle grinders
- People practically smashing plates while violently washing dishes
- Vacuum cleaners or other power tools
- Yelling / screaming
- Alarm clocks
Surprisingly I don’t seem to hate “commonly hated” sounds like: nails on chalkboard, tinnitus, knife on plate, styrofoam rubbing, microphone feedback, babies crying, chewing, snoring, flies, repetitive tapping, dog barking.
Once, I went to a birthday party where the parents let their kid jump on the balloons and pop them one by one on purpose. I had to leave immediately.
If I wear earmuffs, it basically solves the issue. So I’m careful and on the lookout for situations that could make these sounds. I cover my ears with my hands if I don’t have them on me.
The best thing about misophonia and tinnitus is the most annoying sounds just stop registering…
If just thinking of the sound is uncomfortable for you tho, that’s not misophonia.
That’s an actual physical reaction to a sound, you can’t trigger by thinking of a sound or even making it yourself, just like you can’t tickle yourself.
Since it’s not misophonia, you’re going to have to look into exposure therapy if/when you get tired of headphones/muffs. If you’re being vigilant about the sounds like you say, you’re only making it worse.
But In my past experience with clients, everyone that tried to treat muffs as a permanent solution ended up using them more and more instead, to the point they just wore them all the time.
Tolerating shit you don’t like is a skill, and if you don’t practice you get worse over time. Very easy to fall into a feedback loop where you avoid more and more.
Never heard of misophonia so I looked it up:
It doesn’t sound quite right, since it’s more to do with the loudness of any sound, especially if it’s sudden, rather than specific sounds. I think just loud sounds are overwhelming for me, and it causes me distress. I attributed it to autism sensory issues. Even just being in a loud room is very uncomfortable, but somewhat tolerable.
I don’t see a specific need to expose myself to torture to “toughen up”, so to speak. I wear earmuffs about 20% of the day, taking them off and putting them on as needed. If I experience too much loud sounds, I end up with extremely bad migraines and am unwell for days. Before I bought the earmuffs, this condition never improved, so I’m not sure exposure therapy would ever help in my instance.
Thanks for the advice though, I’m sure it might help somebody out there.
Cool, that’s not what exposure therapy is, and not what anyone suggested though…
Can lead a horse to water…
Just to clarify any misunderstanding, I wasn’t saying exposure therapy as a treatment in general is “torture yourself until you get used to it”. I was (poorly, apparently) trying to say that I’m hesitant to deliberately increase exposure to sounds that cause me significant physical symptoms, especially since pushing through them can lead me with migraines for days.
I understand exposure therapy is usually gradual and controlled, and I’m sure it helps many people. My concern is that this seems more like sensory overload from sudden loud sounds, rather than fear or anxiety around specific sounds.
I genuinely appreciate the suggestion, I just don’t think it’s necessarily the right approach for my specific situation.