I find that earplugs and especially ear protectors make me feel really strange after awhile. Almost like it is pressure on my head / skull? I will have to keep trying.
One accommodation that I have is that in my bedroom I have a fan going at ALL TIMES. Midday and evening I find myself escaping to my cool dark room with the fan going and it really helps to instantly calm me.
Yes, it's definitely about balancing across sensory needs. I find some earphones are much tighter than others, squeezing the sides of my head, while others sit more loosely on top of my head. As Mel commented, it can be a lot of trial and error.
Awesome that you've found out fans are so helpful to you -- I feel relaxed just reading that description!
Fans definitely help! Because of COVID and my scent sensitivity (and cat allergies) we have 6 HEPA filters in our house and turning them on high provides such blissful white noise!
Love this. I've been dealing with what I now realize is shame surrounding trying to accommodate myself. It's hard after masking my whole life. I was talking with a fellow autistic friend about this just yesterday. I wish more neurotypical people approached accommodations with curiosity and compassion rather than with preconceived notions and even scorn.
As far as noise accommodations, I've been wearing earplugs while sleeping for years. I used the disposable foam ones for a while, but my sister got me Loop earplugs for my birthday last year, and I wear those every night. I also use them if things just get too noisy around the house (I have a very energetic six-year-old and an equally energetic husband, LOL). I'm a freelance proofreader, and I have a playlist that I use when I'm editing in order to help me concentrate. It's mostly Minecraft music and sad Star Wars music, haha.
Approaching accommodations with curiosity and compassion -- yes! This is such a beautiful thing when it happens. And so worth giving to yourself as much as you can. Wonderful that Loop earplugs are helping you! They didn't quite work for me, but a number of my friends love them.
I got shamed by extended family for acceptance and eventually accommodating my disabling chronic illness. But it was revelatory and groundbreaking for me!! I wish I’d done it sooner. Thanks so much for talking about these pieces of accommodating ourselves; I would have loved to read these words on my earlier journey!
I struggle with sensory sensitivity at times. And I’ve found that addressing one sense well, like putting on sunglasses and a hat or using Loop earplugs or noise canceling headphones or both, can lower the impact of all my senses ringing alarm bells. I loved that discovery!! I’ve found accommodating myself well is a lot about exploration and trial and error (I wish this last part wasn’t always the case with how many accommodations have associated costs…).
Thanks for your essay!!! And opportunity to reflect and be in conversation.
Unlearning that shame is so hard but so worth it. What a wonderful discovery you made, your nervous system must be very grateful! And yes, the trial and error can be frustrating and definitely expensive. My hope is that by sharing our experiences, we won't have to do quite so much learning in isolation -- we can give each other jump starts with knowledge.
Thanks for the article. It really helps to hear others’ experiences. I may look into these headphones!
I have been diagnosed with misophonia and hyperacusis. I hear the appliances hum and every little noise. It is so painful. About 12 years ago I went from a job with my own office to open plan office. It was a nightmare of noise. I started using Bose noise canceling headphones almost all of the time, but even they couldn’t cancel all sounds and they would hurt my head. My cubicle mate’s cracking of pistachios, for example, would pierce the noise barrier and the sound made me irrationally angry. I’ve been working from home for over 4 years now, and it helps so much to be able to control my sound environment. Yesterday I spent 4 hours in the ER waiting room with my husband- he’s okay - and even with my noise canceling headphones, there were too many sounds. I was absolutely wiped out by the end of the day from bracing against the noise.
Anti anxiety meds have also helped dampen the pain and anxiety and rage brought on by sounds, but doesn’t take it away. Prior to meds, fireworks in my neighborhood and prolonged exposure to the sound of leaf-blowers would send me into a full meltdown. It’s not as crippling anymore.
It's such a tough thing to live with, let alone work with. I'm 100% with you on open plan offices being an audio nightmare! My noise cancelling headphones are top-of-the-line Sonys and they still can't do it all. Have you ever tried combining equipment, like wearing earplugs + headphones together? That's what I do when I really need to concentrate or calm down.
Thank you for this article, K.S. Palakovic. This was so good and so encouraging. Thank you for sharing your journey of giving yourself permission to care for yourself by blocking noise pollution and creating noise joy. I really appreciated your openness in walking through the barriers to that (they are so familiar, for myself and for clients I hear say the same things), and the relief and joy on the other side.
I kept thinking of my trip to Peru in college. There was a town, Puno, situated on the highest navigable lake, lake Titicaca, and the night I stayed there it was utterly silent. No machine noises. None. It might be worth a visit for a nervous system break.
And literally, the next thing I found after your article was this: https://emergencemagazine.org/feature/sanctuaries-of-silence/. It was amazing to listen to the contrast of machine noises versus the sounds of nature. For me, nature sounds regulate and inspire me, while machine noises grate on me subtly. I'm curious if this is true for most neurodivergent people, or if this is also one of our spiky profile pieces.
I have the very same reaction to natural vs human-made sounds! It makes me think of the studies showing that people who live near airports have more stress and health problems from the noise -- there have to be some universal elements there, in addition to our spikiness. But that town sounds like an absolutely wonderful place to rest :)
I find that earplugs and especially ear protectors make me feel really strange after awhile. Almost like it is pressure on my head / skull? I will have to keep trying.
One accommodation that I have is that in my bedroom I have a fan going at ALL TIMES. Midday and evening I find myself escaping to my cool dark room with the fan going and it really helps to instantly calm me.
Yes, it's definitely about balancing across sensory needs. I find some earphones are much tighter than others, squeezing the sides of my head, while others sit more loosely on top of my head. As Mel commented, it can be a lot of trial and error.
Awesome that you've found out fans are so helpful to you -- I feel relaxed just reading that description!
Fans definitely help! Because of COVID and my scent sensitivity (and cat allergies) we have 6 HEPA filters in our house and turning them on high provides such blissful white noise!
Love this. I've been dealing with what I now realize is shame surrounding trying to accommodate myself. It's hard after masking my whole life. I was talking with a fellow autistic friend about this just yesterday. I wish more neurotypical people approached accommodations with curiosity and compassion rather than with preconceived notions and even scorn.
As far as noise accommodations, I've been wearing earplugs while sleeping for years. I used the disposable foam ones for a while, but my sister got me Loop earplugs for my birthday last year, and I wear those every night. I also use them if things just get too noisy around the house (I have a very energetic six-year-old and an equally energetic husband, LOL). I'm a freelance proofreader, and I have a playlist that I use when I'm editing in order to help me concentrate. It's mostly Minecraft music and sad Star Wars music, haha.
Approaching accommodations with curiosity and compassion -- yes! This is such a beautiful thing when it happens. And so worth giving to yourself as much as you can. Wonderful that Loop earplugs are helping you! They didn't quite work for me, but a number of my friends love them.
I got shamed by extended family for acceptance and eventually accommodating my disabling chronic illness. But it was revelatory and groundbreaking for me!! I wish I’d done it sooner. Thanks so much for talking about these pieces of accommodating ourselves; I would have loved to read these words on my earlier journey!
I struggle with sensory sensitivity at times. And I’ve found that addressing one sense well, like putting on sunglasses and a hat or using Loop earplugs or noise canceling headphones or both, can lower the impact of all my senses ringing alarm bells. I loved that discovery!! I’ve found accommodating myself well is a lot about exploration and trial and error (I wish this last part wasn’t always the case with how many accommodations have associated costs…).
Thanks for your essay!!! And opportunity to reflect and be in conversation.
Unlearning that shame is so hard but so worth it. What a wonderful discovery you made, your nervous system must be very grateful! And yes, the trial and error can be frustrating and definitely expensive. My hope is that by sharing our experiences, we won't have to do quite so much learning in isolation -- we can give each other jump starts with knowledge.
Thanks for the article. It really helps to hear others’ experiences. I may look into these headphones!
I have been diagnosed with misophonia and hyperacusis. I hear the appliances hum and every little noise. It is so painful. About 12 years ago I went from a job with my own office to open plan office. It was a nightmare of noise. I started using Bose noise canceling headphones almost all of the time, but even they couldn’t cancel all sounds and they would hurt my head. My cubicle mate’s cracking of pistachios, for example, would pierce the noise barrier and the sound made me irrationally angry. I’ve been working from home for over 4 years now, and it helps so much to be able to control my sound environment. Yesterday I spent 4 hours in the ER waiting room with my husband- he’s okay - and even with my noise canceling headphones, there were too many sounds. I was absolutely wiped out by the end of the day from bracing against the noise.
Anti anxiety meds have also helped dampen the pain and anxiety and rage brought on by sounds, but doesn’t take it away. Prior to meds, fireworks in my neighborhood and prolonged exposure to the sound of leaf-blowers would send me into a full meltdown. It’s not as crippling anymore.
It's such a tough thing to live with, let alone work with. I'm 100% with you on open plan offices being an audio nightmare! My noise cancelling headphones are top-of-the-line Sonys and they still can't do it all. Have you ever tried combining equipment, like wearing earplugs + headphones together? That's what I do when I really need to concentrate or calm down.
Thank you for this article, K.S. Palakovic. This was so good and so encouraging. Thank you for sharing your journey of giving yourself permission to care for yourself by blocking noise pollution and creating noise joy. I really appreciated your openness in walking through the barriers to that (they are so familiar, for myself and for clients I hear say the same things), and the relief and joy on the other side.
I kept thinking of my trip to Peru in college. There was a town, Puno, situated on the highest navigable lake, lake Titicaca, and the night I stayed there it was utterly silent. No machine noises. None. It might be worth a visit for a nervous system break.
And literally, the next thing I found after your article was this: https://emergencemagazine.org/feature/sanctuaries-of-silence/. It was amazing to listen to the contrast of machine noises versus the sounds of nature. For me, nature sounds regulate and inspire me, while machine noises grate on me subtly. I'm curious if this is true for most neurodivergent people, or if this is also one of our spiky profile pieces.
I have the very same reaction to natural vs human-made sounds! It makes me think of the studies showing that people who live near airports have more stress and health problems from the noise -- there have to be some universal elements there, in addition to our spikiness. But that town sounds like an absolutely wonderful place to rest :)