I was at a symposium for people with neurofibromatosis (I have a friend who has it) and the speaker started to talk about adults with noise sensitivity and describing about CAPD - Central Auditory Processing Disorder.
I have had troubles for many years with concentration. Get bored / distracted easily. Can’t stand background noise. I am unusally sensitive to noises.
I work at a school and when the kids play basketball or just bounce balls I find it intolerable. The classroom above me is a constant scraping of chairs above my head from when school starts to when it ends. Even the noise that cars make driving down my street. I can’t sit out the front of my home because of this. I have trouble filtering out most background noises. Dogs barking down the street. Gum chewing. The list is endless. I hear all of it and cannot tune any of it out.
Anything repetitive, like someone drumming their fingers on a table is troublesome. I can also be a bit of a poor communicator - in terms of, if I don’t think through very carefully and take my time talking, I can be rather terse. Of course, the other person may feel offended. My response is not intentional, but I have learned to formulate a response before I actually do.
I’ve always known that my ‘intolerance’ isn’t normal. I thought I was just being anal. Yesterday, I found relief to know that there is something to what I’ve been feeling for all these years.
I work in a fairly noisy environment - schools are like that. I have been here a lot of years and find that my tolerance level just keeps on getting lower. I find my day situation very hard to cope with. Some days I wake up in the morning and I know I cannot tolerate any bit of noise that day and I have to book off work for the day.
I have my 90 year old father living with me. He stopped smoking two years ago and even though his coughing has reduced 80%, I find that the last 20 still irritates me … I have a fan running constantly for the ‘white’ noise that drowns other sounds out.
I’m not sure about the ‘learning disability’ aspect of any of this.
I need help with this. I don’t know where to turn. I live in Toronto.
I can be reached at [email protected] and would sincerely appreciate any advice you can offer.
Liz
Noise
I also have CAPD. The two best things to help with blocking out noise are ear plugs and loud music.
As for the cause, I have discovered much from reading medical papers and neurology textbooks. The problem is most likely caused by damage to the Inferior Colliculus, which is located in your midbrain and is the primary pathway for auditory signals moving up to the cerebrum. Inferior Colliculus has a high metabolic activity at birth, so is easily damaged by any sort of oxygen deprivation. Another brain structure that can suffer damage is the thalamus. This is located deep inside your brain and is the central relay for all sensorary information going to the cerebrum. Destruction of the thalamus leads to a permenant vegitative state, but slight damage can occur to various sensorary pathways, causing further problems. Finally, there is the auditory cortex (superior temporal gyrus), which performs the higher level auditory processing. This isn’t likely to be damaged in infants due to the low metabolic activity of the cerebrum. It can be damaged by brain swelling or head trauma, though. Therefore, various forms of CAPD are most likely caused by damage to Inferior Colliculus and auditory pathways in the Thalamus.
Re: Acute Sensitivity to Noise in Adults
[quote:b4547cca0e=”LizzieB”]I was at a symposium for people with neurofibromatosis (I have a friend who has it) and the speaker started to talk about adults with noise sensitivity and describing about CAPD - Central Auditory Processing Disorder. … I have had troubles for many years with concentration. Get bored / distracted easily. Can’t stand background noise. I am unusally sensitive to noises. … I have trouble filtering out most background noises. Dogs barking down the street. Gum chewing. The list is endless. I hear all of it and cannot tune any of it out.
I’ve always known that my ‘intolerance’ isn’t normal. I thought I was just being anal. Yesterday, I found relief to know that there is something to what I’ve been feeling for all these years.
I have been here a lot of years and find that my tolerance level just keeps on getting lower. … I have a fan running constantly for the ‘white’ noise that drowns other sounds out.
I’m not sure about the ‘learning disability’ aspect of any of this.
I need help with this. I don’t know where to turn. I live in Toronto.
I can be reached at [email protected] and would sincerely appreciate any advice you can offer.
Liz[/quote]
Much of this sounds very familiar to me - except with me, it is above all the grossly-overpowered car stereos - and home stereos, TV’s - mostly anything with a strong bass component - I recently was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome - have previously also been diagnosed w/ A.D.D. (hypo) - relief has come in a bit of an extreme form - I moved out of the apartment I was in (downstairs tenant *started* the video games @ 10p.m. - when you have to work at going to sleep, it loses some of its restorative qualities) - and into a house - with no TV. Unfortunately - there is also no one else - very drastic. But the earplugs, headphones, fans, air purifiers - did not really do the job. I feel I have lost years, cumulatively, just trying to fight the noise to be able to hear my own thoughts. You have my sympathies.
I don’t know that I can help you any, but you’re not alone. I have been very sensitive all my life. Avoid what you can, and try not to let the other things get on your nerves — get enough rest of possible.
By the way, schools do NOT *have* to be noisy — back in the dark ages of my youth they were if anything too quiet.
I’m just west of Montreal — hi!