Last night we attended my 6-year-old’s school concert. The place was incredibly crowded and noisy, and I (who dislike crowds and noise) became irritable almost immediately. It was almost a physical reaction and I had to control my impulse to just bolt the place.
We also know that our 6-year-old doesn’t like noise (we’ve been in noisy places and he’s held his hands over his ears, started crying and wants to go home. I can’t describe the reaction, but it’s not just dislike or disorientation, he really has a problem with it).
I can’t find much on noise sensitivity on-line (I keep getting booted off, with an error message), and I wanted to see if I could validate a theory that occurred to me last night.
You see, I am a percussionist, and my son also likes to drum. Not exactly what you would expect from noise-sensitive people (if that’s what we are). But last night I wondered if there’s a difference for us because there is some kind of order in drumming. I was driven to distraction by the various pitches, levels and especially the chaos of the crowd noise last night. But drumming is music, and music is ordered, so the “noise” loses its chaotic aspect, and can be dealt with and experienced with pleasure.
My WAG would be that it’s because drums produce low-frequency noise, which is usually not very irritating to most people. Conversation, especially people shrieking to each other across a crowded auditorium, tends to be at the higher frequencies, which you and your son may be more sensitive to.
I don’t know your son, so I may be way off base with this idea. Is it really the noise that bothers your son? Would he have felt better if all those people had been packed just as tight but were being quiet as churchmice? Children often try to block out stimuli that disturb them (as by covering their ears). But if it was the crowd itself that bothered him, and not its noise, I would expect he would close his eyes too, or at least look away from the crowd. Did he?
This site says that 89% of panic disorder patients report increased sensitivity to noise. I may be something to keep in mind.
terms:[ul]ochlophobia = fear of or aversion to crowds
agoraphobia = fear of or aversion to public or open places
acousticophobia or phonophobia = fear of or aversion to sounds or noises[/ul]
I can’t stand noisy places. Sometimes it is painful enough I do cover my ears and just cry. If it is not noisy enough to be that painful, i still often feel irritable and have to be very conscious of my behavior so i don’t snap at my poor husband or others with me.
When i attend trade shows I bring noise reduction ear plugs. Often they are being taped and the sound guys are so clueless they think the mic has to be extremely loud in order to get a good taping. With the ear plugs I can still hear the speaker fine and it does help. I started this after nearly having to leave a rather expensive leture. I avoid concerts and most places that one expects to be loud. Some people seem to enjoy painfully loud music. I don’t expect the whole world to change for my comfort, but when my company shells out a couple grand for me attend a seminar and I can’t stay in the same room with the speaker, then I take action. I went out to demand my money back and someone suggested the earplugs and had an unopened pack of disposable ones. I was surprised how well they worked. You may want to try them or let your son try them. They can be pretty cheap and really help me.
The reason i don’t buy the idiots’ stories about the volume has to be loud so it will tape and there is no way to adjust it is that my husband is a Audio Visual technician at a large hotel. He does this for a living and knows how to use sound equipment to make things easily audible but not unbearably loud. With more cooperative techs he has shown them how to fix things so that it works well.
What i hate the most is when there is one person inflicting the noise and they refuse to stop. I was a six flags on a ride that was basically a observation deck that leisurely travveled up a tower and back down while a guide told about what we could see. He had the mic up so loud that i my ears hurt and i felt sick to my stomach and he would not turn it down despite the only ones on the ride were me and my friends and we could hear normal voices fine. I reported him to the park officials and they apologized and said he should turn it down at request. The next time i went the volume was reasonable.
At a recent wedding where I was the matron of honor the damn MC was so loud on his mic that i became ill. He refused to stop until a few other people from the wedding party stepped in. Wedding receptions are usually so loud i leave early, but this one in general was fine except for one guy.
Thanks for all your input, folks. I appreciate it.
Bibliophage, my son doesn’t have a problem with large groups of people. He sits quite nicely in church surrounded by people. But it’s much quieter there.
Another story to illustrate my point: His school had a parent/child bingo night last fall. I took him, and the place was crowded, as expected. He really wanted to win a prize, but was getting very antsy with all the ambient noise(as was I). He especially found it upsetting when the caller would ask, “Should I pick one more number?” and all the kids would shriek, “YEEEEEESSSSS!” That’s when he would cover his ears, and even said, “Be quiet!” or “Don’t yell!” or words to that effect. I just got irritable as hell.
We finally did win a prize, and as we were walking back to our seats, the caller asked about picking one more number, everyone shrieked, and my son burst into tears and begged me to take him home. I was more than glad to oblige.
Duck duck, your assessment makes sense, now that I think of it. In both these instances, there were many children present, and their high pitched voices may have had the same affect as fingernails on a chalkboard. I never have the same reaction to the noise when I take my daughter to the ballgame.
I also feel pained at sudden loud noises. The sound of something dropping on a hard surface seems to go through my ears like an icepick.
