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Our world is loud, bright, and overwhelming in a lot of other senses. So, it's not unfounded to be affected by it.
But did you know that sometimes your overwhelming feelings towards sounds, for example, can be something more than that? Turns out, feeling annoyed at certain noises can be a full-blown disorder. And there's more than one to choose from! If we piqued your interest, read up and additionally enjoy some examples of various sounds that drive some folks insane.
More info: Reddit
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#2
HAVING A FULL BLOWN CONVERSATION ON SPEAKER PHONE AS LOUD AS POSSIBLE . I hate you people.
Have you ever heard a sound that made you annoyed, violent, or straight-up drove you insane? Quite a lot of people have particular sounds that make them want to crawl out of their skin. In fact, 10% to 40% of the general population is noise-sensitive. That means that they are more easily disturbed by noise than the average person.
These annoying sounds can be various, just as today’s list proves. In here, you will find a plethora of examples – from crying children to a fork scraping a plate to a Microsoft Teams message blip.
#4
When you’re driving on the freeway and one window in the car is open and it makes that throbbing bass like sound that rattles your eardrums.
#5
Smacking when eating. It has always been one of my worst pet peeves.
detective miller's hat 2 months ago
I will actually get physically ill at this sound. I had a co-worker at one point who was the loudest nastiest eater ever and if that wasn't bad enough, he was eating CONSTANTLY, so I couldn't just leave the office every time he started loudly chewing. It was loud enough that even with ear plugs AND noise cancelling headphones and the radio playing pretty loud, I could STILL hear him eating. Ugh I'm getting nauseous just typing this
#6
When it’s raining but only a little bit and the windscreen wipers screech on the slightly wet windscreen.
The thing is, these negative feelings towards these sounds don’t come just from the plain irritability of a person; instead, it’s something they are born with. What’s interesting is that the sounds not only annoy these people, but also can have long-term effects on their mental and physical health.
Like the constant hearing of them can make a person nervous, fearful, and anxious. It might even force their body into a fight-or-flight response and cause heart disease and diabetes, along with mental health issues. And there’s no way you can “turn it off.” It is similar to a mosquito flying around – you just can’t stop hearing it.
#7
The chirp of a dying battery in a smoke detector.
Jumping Jellyfishes 2 months ago
The majority of the time we've had this happen was in the middle of the night.
#8
Toddlers high pitched screeching, dogs continuous barking, having to overhear people’s personal phone calls at work.
Lou Cam 2 months ago (edited)
The thing is, toddlers can learn anything you teach them. If they scream in play, you stop the play and explain no more play if they scream. If they scream in a tantrum you remove them from the area (shop, restaurant) and again, nothing good happens until they calm down. My kids screamed once in play. They learnt not to and would shush any other kids screaming. Tantrum was harder as they can go past the point of return into meltdown but you can bet I've walked out of places with them so as not to annoy others. I lived in a flat at the time when they were young and it was only polite to have this behaviour sorted fromt the start. Just to note, both are AuDHD also. Dogs continuous barking is usually separation anxiety for being left alone all day or all night. So many people bought dogs in lockdown and then came to this problem when they had to go back to work. So many dogs surrendered to shelters because of it.
Yet, sound sensitivity shouldn’t be mixed up with another sound-related disorder, misophonia. You see, general sound sensitivity is about all kinds of noises, as you can see from the examples we already provided before.
At the same time, misophonia usually concerns specific sounds like chewing, tapping, or ticking. Additionally, while sound sensitivity can cause a variety of emotions, most often, misophonia triggers disgust and/or rage.
#10
Im so sorry but a baby crying.
Ellinor she/they/elle 2 months ago
I think it's because it's "designed" by evolution to make you uneasy, so you want to make it stop and take care of the baby and not let them d!e.
#11
Someone sniffing rather than blow their nose!
detective miller's hat 2 months ago
I have constantly cranky sinuses (THANKS DAD). If I blew my nose every time I had the sniffles, I would probably do some major damage to said nose.
Interestingly, just like general sound sensitivity, the mentioned disorder’s cause also lies in people’s brains. Well, it kind of makes sense when you think about it – our brains are responsible for the majority of things that happen to our bodies, after all.
People with misophonia, it turns out, have abnormal brain connections in the anterior insular cortex, a place that processes emotions and regulates bodily responses. This means that their brain perceives certain sounds as a threat, even if a person knows it actually isn’t dangerous.
#13
Microwaves that keep beeping after you have opened the door. CLEARLY I KNOW MY FOOD IS READY I HAVE OPENED THE DOOR.
TheGoodBoi 2 months ago
My microwave has a "silent" setting, it's absolutely wonderful. I grew up in a household where I could not make a sound after 9pm or my father would teleport to my position to scold me.
#14
Styrofoam rubbing on styrofoam.
Andrew Keir 2 months ago
Agreed - this should have been banned in the Geneva Convention but somehow was overlooked.
#15
When a fork scrapes a plate.
Also, these people have greater levels of myelination – the brain’s natural insulation, which helps signals travel quickly between different areas. All of this was proven by a study done with 44 misophobics. Granted, the sample size isn’t large, but the results that were received from it open the path for the disorder to be researched more and hopefully formally recognized.
So, if you keep finding yourself constantly overwhelmed by certain sounds, maybe you have any of these conditions? Of course, we’re not here to diagnose you or anything, just to give you some food for thought. And ask you – what kind of sounds annoy you the most? Please share in the comments.
#16
Leafblowers.
StrangeOne 2 months ago (edited)
The last caretaker I had would run his leaf blower before 7am. There were NO LEAVES. NOTHING. One of my neighbours who would sit outside said all he did was kick up the sand fleas. (If you're wondering, the cities spread sand on the sidewalks and roads in the winter when it gets icy. During the spring and summer that sand is spread out everywhere, in the grass, the crevices of the concrete, everywhere. It attracts little mites that bite.)
#17
Really any machine that beeps or alarms, especially for nonsense like your dryer announcing it’s finished. I’m an ER nurse and the alarm fatigue and overstimulation are for real 😣.
StrangeOne 2 months ago
My fridge has an alarm for when the door is open for long. Which makes cleaning it a pain in the a**e.
#18
Loud cars or motorcycles, maybe I’m just getting old but also doesn’t help living close to a muffler shop and other auto dealerships.
#19
Music being played in the distance that I can’t hear fully just the base and droaning or vibrations invokes an anger in me that I don’t understand why.
Apatheist Account2 2 months ago
Some years ago, Status Quo played a concert at Rochester Castle, which is about 2 miles away. It was the perfect distance from which to hear it.
#20
When people on social media tap their fingernails against whatever product they’re selling. Even if it’s muted I get enraged.
Ellinor she/they/elle 2 months ago
I actually love that kind of ASMR, it just scratches my brain the right way.
#21
Harley bikes. Noisy for no reason except to be noisy s***s. Actually makes the bikes less fuel efficient and makes the people they own them in the same crowd as lifted truck rednecks. .
Ace 2 months ago
FWIW a noisy exhaust does not make an engine less efficient. In some race-tuning applications it can actually help improve power output, and therefore efficiency, which of course is why racing cars and bikes are so loud, but this is not generally the case with the Hardly Ablesons.
#22
That stupid Tiktok AI narrator voice.
It leaks over to YT. Pisses my labia to bits.
Tabitha 2 months ago (edited)
Any AI generated voiceover. The pronunciations of certain common words, the tone of voice, and reading things like dates as numbers (saying 1970 as one thousand nine seventy, for example). Why put human voiceover artists out of business when all you have to offer is a s****y AI voice that can’t read the script properly? Give me Don LaFontaine (famous voiceover artists), not s**t AI that has no idea what it’s reading.
#23
When someone is shouting,
Like they have no consideration of other people around that will hear their voice. Its annoying for me.
Rick Murray 2 months ago
Earlier a guy at work got pulled up for making a personal phone call while "using the toilet" (for hygiene reasons phones aren't allowed in the production area so people sneak out). Why did he get caught? Easy - this guy has no indoor voice whatsoever. There's shouting and there's hollering and that's his only two settings.
#24
Microsoft Teams alert.
#26
Talky breathy ASMR videos. I really got into them during covid when I was feeling people-starved , but now they’re just annoying
The only thing I can compare it to is years ago when I was pregnant and CRAVED smoked mackerel on toast; after baby was born, someone lovingly presented me with a plate of smoked mackerel on toast and I was all like, what fresh hell is this?? It no longer made sense.
#27
Country music. If driveway gravel could sing, that's what it would sound like. All pieces just about the same size, the same color the same shape, unremarkable and comparable to a ream of blank paper.
#28
Loud exaggerated yawns, once ok, but when someone is doing it every other min...
Uncle Panda 2 months ago
"When someone is doing it every other minute," you are missing a big clue.
#30
When I’m at work and the door buzzer goes off letting me know a customer just walked in 🤣.
StrangeOne 2 months ago (edited)
The washroom doorbell at work for customers to ring when they want in. Some people annihilate the button.
#31
Cotton eye Joe. It aggravated me just thinking about it when I saw this question. It's not even just that it's a stupid song it literally messes with my fight or flight like someone's trying to start a fight with me.
#32
That "Oh no no no no no" song on Tik Tok. It's been 4 m**********n years, the trend is long dead. STOP USING IT.
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What do you think ?
badmotorfinger 2 months ago
Mosquito or fly buzzing my ear. Especially when I am trying to sleep.
Janissary35680 2 months ago
I will get out of bed and relentlessly hunt that critter down until I have destroyed it.
Load More Replies... Tabitha 2 months ago (edited)
If you have ever worked a job where the f*****g phone rang constantly, to the point where you never had enough downtime to adequately finish your other assignments ed work without interruption, then you will HATE HATE HATE the sound of a phone ringing. I worked jobs like that, nd I turn my phone ringer TF OFF and let calls go to voicemail when I’m at home. In the old days, I would turn the ringer off and turn the answering machine on. It took working that kinds of job to make me, someone who, as a teenager, LIVED on the phone and could talk on it for HOURS, into someone who hates telephones, screens calls closely, and blocks every damned unwanted/telemarketer/spam/robo call all the damned time. When I’m on my own time, I want peace. If you need me, I’ll call you. If it’s an emergency, that callback will be quick.
Little Bit 2 months ago
This 100%. I hate the sound of ringing phones. It breaks my concentration, i forget what I'mdoing and i hate being disturbed. Only this morning at work, I had typed just 3 words of an important email when the phone rang. I finished the call and got back to typing my email when the phone immediately rang again. I hadn't even got back to my email before the phone rang for a third time. By the time I got back to my email I had completely forgotten what I was going to type and then I got moaned at because I hadn't sent the email. When I am at home I don't do phone calls unless it is life or death. Give me an email or message any day.
Load More Replies...
Jumping Jellyfishes 2 months ago
My hubby now sneezes loud enough to rival the noise of a rock band in concert.
badmotorfinger 2 months ago
Mosquito or fly buzzing my ear. Especially when I am trying to sleep.
Janissary35680 2 months ago
I will get out of bed and relentlessly hunt that critter down until I have destroyed it.
Load More Replies... Tabitha 2 months ago (edited)
If you have ever worked a job where the f*****g phone rang constantly, to the point where you never had enough downtime to adequately finish your other assignments ed work without interruption, then you will HATE HATE HATE the sound of a phone ringing. I worked jobs like that, nd I turn my phone ringer TF OFF and let calls go to voicemail when I’m at home. In the old days, I would turn the ringer off and turn the answering machine on. It took working that kinds of job to make me, someone who, as a teenager, LIVED on the phone and could talk on it for HOURS, into someone who hates telephones, screens calls closely, and blocks every damned unwanted/telemarketer/spam/robo call all the damned time. When I’m on my own time, I want peace. If you need me, I’ll call you. If it’s an emergency, that callback will be quick.
Little Bit 2 months ago
This 100%. I hate the sound of ringing phones. It breaks my concentration, i forget what I'mdoing and i hate being disturbed. Only this morning at work, I had typed just 3 words of an important email when the phone rang. I finished the call and got back to typing my email when the phone immediately rang again. I hadn't even got back to my email before the phone rang for a third time. By the time I got back to my email I had completely forgotten what I was going to type and then I got moaned at because I hadn't sent the email. When I am at home I don't do phone calls unless it is life or death. Give me an email or message any day.
Load More Replies... Jumping Jellyfishes 2 months ago
My hubby now sneezes loud enough to rival the noise of a rock band in concert.
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