The screech of garbage trucks. The squeal of little children screaming.
Those hurt.
It feels like a scream in my brain that I can’t escape. Hearing the sound once makes me jump and hurt. If the sound goes on and on, I feel angry and feel like crying.
You see, I’m sensitive to high-register noises, so I like my world with a little more base. I wish the garbage truck companies would get brakes fixed. I wish our neighbor would tell her daughter to stop screaming outside for prolonged periods, though I know that is what little girls do so I’m not faulting them for it. But, she screams for as long as her breath holds out then starts again.
But, I can’t say anything to the parent because she would be angry with me, so I close the windows, but I want the windows open, so what do I do? The garbage truck companies, they won’t care if their brakes annoy anyone–they would hit “delete” on my email.
Other times, the treble sneaks up on me when I am not aware yet of the source. As an example, I have been nervous and unhappy when I’m in the car with hubby. I didn’t want to drive with him at all. I starting evading it by doing errands by myself. But, that isn’t good for us, since with our work schedules, doing errands together is a little time together.
It turns out that the avoidance was of the radio. Now, we drive with the radio off and I am suddenly quite happy driving with him. When he wants the radio on, which is always, he turns down the treble and ups the bass.
I hadn’t clued in to the source of the avoidance and irritation because I used to listen to loud music in my old car when I drove alone. Now with my Ford Explorer–my work truck–I turn the treble waaaay down and crank the music up in surround sound.
If you are new to sensory processing disorder (SPD) visit the SPD Foundation. SPD almost always occurs with autism, though SPD can often exist in non-autistic world.
Eileen, I was wondering if you’ve ever had problems with sounds repeating themselves in your head after the source itself has ended. My five year old recently mentioned that words people say to her get repeated in her brain over and over. I asked her for an example. She said, “right now, my brain is saying “example, example, example” over and over again.”
Just wondering if you, or any of the readers, have head of that. And she has SPD, but is not diagnosed with autism/aspergers as of yet, and I doubt she will be.
Once again, you have a short post packed with info, insight, and rational thinking. Love it. I have SPD as well. I don’t have problems with high registers because of hearing loss (a silver lining to that). But when I am around a lot of noises, especially voices, my brain tries to process all of it and it is overwhelming. (pun alert) Let’s hear it for custom molded earplugs! So much variation with SPD in people.
(And the picture in this post overwhelms me. So bright and frenetic! But I do see that it is also beautiful. Sort of like the sun.)
Megan,
I do that also, but I don’t think it’s an spd issue, but I could be wrong.
Wow, this is an awesome perspective for me as a parent of a child with autism. Please link up your post to share with more readers!
http://thinkingoutsidethesandbox.ca/autism-what-it-means-to-me/