Is it normal to become more sensitive to noise as you age?

[-]

saladinzero@reddit

I would say no. Kids maybe annoying, but just talking loudly causing huge stress isn't normal. Nor is being unable to ignore the sound of the wind. I don't like people getting medical advice from idiots on the internet like me, but google misophonia and see if the symptoms sound familiar. It might be worth considering CBT if you can afford it?

Reply

[-]

SeaweedClean5087@reddit

Kids shout everything at the top of their voices. One of my neighbours kids screams in a high pitch. I often wan t to kill then, I’d say it’s normal.

Reply

[-]

Vancouverreader80@reddit

Honestly kids need to talk in voices that don’t sound like they’re yelling

Reply

[-]

saladinzero@reddit

Having to put your fingers in your ears at the dinner table in your home is not normal.

Reply

[-]

SeaweedClean5087@reddit

I have misophonia and the kids in my neighbourhood drive me nuts. The worst thing is the constant bouncing of a footballl. It’s hard to accept but I just have to put up with it. It’s nothing illegal or antisocial.

Reply

[-]

Careful-Swimmer-2658@reddit

As I've got older I find I'm unable to screen out unwanted background noise. If someone is talking to me and there's some c#'&+ watching something on a phone without headphones within earshot, all I can hear is the phone. Likewise in meetings at work, if there's a whispered conversation going on in the room I can't understand anything the main speaker is saying.

Reply

[-]

DavidC_is_me@reddit

I'm the same. Like OP, the sound of people talking loudly, eg outside my house I find quite stressful. I've thought about it and I don't think it's about noise per se. It's about people and about control. If I'm walking my dog and he's barking as he runs about I barely notice. If there's a dog barking somewhere up my street however, I get stressed and increasingly worked up at the fact I can't control it. It's a bit hypocritical I know - and I pretty much always try to be considerate to others iro noise - but I get annoyed at the people making the noise, more than the noise itself. The OP's example of loud wind outside the house wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

Reply

[-]

ARobertNotABob@reddit

Grump Old Man development....symptoms usually first show in the 40s... :)

Reply

[-]

IntelligentDeal9721@reddit

The ability to filter out irrelevant noise reduces with age. It's measurable, observable with EEGs and well understood in medical literature.

Reply

[-]

MountainVegetable314@reddit

The absolute asses who drive their scooters/motorbikes up and down my road at night need to get in the sea. When I was younger I would have not had an issue with that noise

Reply

[-]

Lower_Possession_697@reddit

I don't think you become physically more sensitive, but mentally less tolerant.

Reply

[-]

ellemeno_@reddit

I have become much more sensitive to noise sine the perimenopause started. Obviously this won’t apply to you but I wonder if it’s due to the perimenopause or to aging.

Reply

[-]

Technical_Current430@reddit

I found this, but I’m not 40 yet. It’s one of the reasons I enjoyed the change from busy open office to working from home a lot more than I thought. Buy some loop earplugs, they dampen the sound and are really good.

Reply

[-]

sihasihasi@reddit

Me too. It's increasingly hard to filter out the noise. If I'm in a pub with moderately loud music and a group of friends, I find that I really struggle to follow conversations. I also have tinnitus. I think it's basically age-related hearing loss.

Reply

[-]

Dr_Turb@reddit

The good thing about getting older is that you'll either go deaf, so the loud noise won't bother you, or you'll get tinnitus which will drown the noise out. Win either way!

Reply

[-]

JocastaH-B@reddit

Not necessarily true, we were discussing this in my hearing disability fb group recently and many of us still feel pain because the pain nerve endings are still working plus the brain may be responding to vibration differently that it used to

Reply

[-]

JocastaH-B@reddit

Yes definitely. Plus because hearing aids don't filter sounds like brains do that's an additional problem for me. A friend suggested wearing headphones to the supermarket because I was complaining that screeching children were causing me so much pain. It's a game changer, I have a playlist of my very favourite music so now it's a positive experience

Reply

[-]

jdsuperman@reddit

I'm the same. Much more sensitive to noise - particularly voices - in the last few years, to the point where I now actively wince whenever someone raises their voice in public or kids are playing and screaming. I'm totally fine with loud music or films, but I find the sound of loud voices to be unbelievably piercing and/or grating, and I'm sure that never used to be the case.

Reply

[-]

CrackersMcCheese@reddit (OP)

This is me. I catch myself putting my fingers in my ears at the dinner table. Not to be rude, but in an effort to dampen the intensity. I feel I can’t focus. This isn’t the kids fighting or being obnoxious, just good natured dinner chat. But it cripples me.

Reply

[-]

intangible-tangerine@reddit

You could have hyperacusis which is when your noise perception is off and things seem much louder than they are which can be distressing. I don't think you have misophonia as that is tied to specific triggers regardless of volume

Reply

[-]

JocastaH-B@reddit

Yes, this is definitely something to seek medical advice about https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hyperacusis/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1-4P-5llP2ZcCHLiQzX3NCN0kBjcTK0aHR5ajTqqABTa674YoezCnKWU8_aem_eMGxjOsvfCQfCkyCYy9b2A

Reply

[-]

saladinzero@reddit

Crankiness aside, that sounds a pretty unhappy way to live your life. Mid 40s is young, and you can't go through all the rest of the years of your life hoping that everyone suddenly decides not to talk to one another around you. Have you talked to your family about this? Maybe it's worth going to speak to the GP as well?

Reply

[-]

Additional_Bug5339@reddit

Get your ears checked to make sure nothing is wrong. If you're still none the wiser, try noise filtering ear plugs I'm sensitive to certain noises and they help loads.

Reply

[-]

ClarifyingMe@reddit

I was always sensitive to noise but I could "tolerate" it when I was younger, but that was all in hindsight (and actually, I didn't really tolerate it well when all I remember is a childhood of constant headaches, easily irritated demeanor and constantly seeking to be alone and having to recharge for days on end and so on). As I got older I gradually had more and more episodes of what I thought were panic attacks but they were actually me being overstimulated by sounds, light and smells. Once I came to understand this around 2019, I began trying to reduce these inputs and it helped greatly reduce the incidence, but my sensitivity to specific types of noise is still very bad. I just remove myself from situation that are too much. I don't know about in general, just sharing what it was for me. You could see if getting some Loop Quiet or Experience help you at all? I heard they don't work for some people though.

Reply

[-]

geekhalla@reddit

Same here. Except i was lucky to get a diagnosis for a condition at a younger age and now it's just a case of being grown up with a full house and unavoidable noise so it piles up more and becomes harder to manage sometimes. Though still shit myself with any sudden unexpected noise - my wife's clicked on to this and will pre warn me if she's about to instigate something suddenly loud or stop any cross talk which is more common.

Reply

[-]

musicfortea@reddit

Sounds just like me. I got an autism diagnosis at the age of 40.

Reply

[-]

ClarifyingMe@reddit

I was also late diagnosed, with added ADHD and PTSD for shits and giggles.

Reply

[-]

musicfortea@reddit

Oh snap! I left out the adhd and cptsd part.

Reply

[-]

ClarifyingMe@reddit

Double-snap, I left out the C from my PTSD. Jinx and high five! (If you don't laugh, you cry, but I end up crying anyway but at least I laughed first).

Reply

[-]

musicfortea@reddit

EDS too?

Reply

[-]

ClarifyingMe@reddit

Can't be bothered with more medical trauma to check, so just diagnosed with HSD - it explains why people always acted like perverts when they felt my skin all my life though. I'm stiff as an ironing board now and all my joints are rotted with rust (but thankfully not Arthritis and hopefully never, although it and bone-related conditions do run in my family). Should've made a few ££ as a child contortionist when I still had the chance. Shucks. I feel like we're playing battle ships but our pieces are in the same places.

Reply

[-]

musicfortea@reddit

I'm sorry to hear that. I get overly excited when I meet or talk to other open people that are like me, and then it descends into over sharing and I regret it - at least on reddit I can delete it all whilst I cringe, but in real life it's not so easy. So on that note I am going to go to sleep now ☺️

Reply

[-]

ClarifyingMe@reddit

That's understandable because - "you have sunk my battle ship" - I do it too. Have a good night.

Reply

[-]

MareShoop63@reddit

I’ve (60f) always been extremely sensitive to noise/loud noise even music. I have to keep earplugs with me. Goodwill stores are especially loud- the music is incredibly obnoxious to me. I can remember as a kid trying to go to sleep and the tv was way too loud. I’d get up and go turn it down. My sisters gave me shit over it. Crashing sounds are unpleasant as well. Dropped objects onto the floors etc. Makes me very anxious

Reply

[-]

FrauAmarylis@reddit

Yes. I have started carrying ear plugs everywhere. I have perfect hearing and it's a curse. My ears hurt and remain sore for hours after hearing a loud person talk in a bus, for example.

Reply

[-]

Plenty-Win-4283@reddit

I think as we get older our patience with things really change and there is so much we can handle id say it’s normal there’s some sounds which I find quite annoying I rather shut the window as I rather have some peace and quiet lol

Reply

[-]

Quick_Butterfly_1766@reddit

I wouldn’t say so, I think some people are just sensitive to noise or can become sensitive to noise. I’m 24 and in the last few years have become incredibly sensitive to noise to the point where I can hear other conversations afar or even the act of someone slowing stirring their drink on the floor below me. It stops me sleeping and drives me insane. I also have quite a soft voice so I’ve always found it unnecessary when people speak “loudly”, but especially of late. I find it stressful when people make loud noises too but I think that’s just because it makes me panic because it reminds me of being a child and getting told off 🤷🏼‍♀️

Reply

[-]

Cudjinho@reddit

not saying you have it, but really look into ADHD.

Reply

[-]

StalactiteSkin@reddit

I would say get your hearing checked as a first step

Reply

[-]

caliandris@reddit

With eyesight there's a thing called Charles bonnet syndrome where decreasing data through the eyes leads to the brain making up it's own images to compensate. It's pretty scary for sufferers. I'm wondering if there's an equivalent for hearing, that if you are losing your hearing the brain over compensates by turning up the volume on the things you can hear? I'd definitely get your hearing assessed and talk to a doctor

Reply

[-]

Own_Ice3264@reddit

Try loop engage earplugs

Reply

[-]

QuiteFrankE@reddit

I came here to suggest these exact loops! They have really helped me cope with this issue.

Reply

[-]

Effective-Ad-6460@reddit

Had covid recently? In the past year ? Covid leaves lasting problems unique to the individual though a common one I had was sensitivity to sound

Reply

[-]

callmeepee@reddit

Holy shit, I'm literally reading this poat after having to turn the volume down on auto playing videos when I scroll because the sounds are so SHARP that they hurt my ears. I'm 44, and no, you are not imagining things with the noise.

Reply

[-]

AnTeallach1062@reddit

I don't know if it is 'normal', but I am more sensitive to certain sounds at 53 than I was in my 30s.

Reply

[-]

KelpFox05@reddit

In people with hearing loss, you often become more sensitive to sharp, sudden, or loud noises as your hearing degenerates. It's called recruitment and is very normal - you could simply be losing your hearing as you age and not noticing. However, your descriptions sound different to normal recruitment symptoms, so I would say to visit an audiologist and talk through what could be going on.

Reply

[-]

EllaSingsJazz@reddit

Yeah, I'm fine with noise I've chosen such as playing my music loud but it's the beeping and buzzing of modern life I can't bear. The ATM beeping, self service tills barking orders at you, beeping car horns, At the Co-Op earlier I was wincing at the till beeping and the self service right next to the manned tills blipping. It makes me want to rip my ears off.

Reply

[-]

No-Garbage9500@reddit

I'm choosing to believe that my sensitivity isn't changing but rather that as I get older, I'm more in touch with what I actually *enjoy* and am less inclined to just put up with whatever shit I did when I was younger because it's what I had to do to hang out with my mates or whatever. I've never liked noise, but now I'm in the position that I can: 1. afford be in places that refuse typically noisy people (kid free zones? Luxury) 2. not feel any sort of shame or fear by going up to noisy people and telling them to shut up 3. be satisfied in myself that I'll leave any sort of party or night out when it moves from atmospheric hum music into conversation drowning blare 4. still go to heavy metal gigs, proving that it's not the volume that bothers me but the context. It is my absolute, deep held belief that *nobody* likes loud bars. Clubs I understand but don't enjoy. If you do, have at it. But bars... Nah. Nobody likes having to lean into someone's ear to scream conversation. When I'm king they'll be the first victim of my decrees.

Reply

[-]

couragetospeak@reddit

Yes. It's called hyperacusis.

Reply

[-]

PipBin@reddit

Yes. I have a very low tolerance to noise now. Mainly because I have a low tolerance to people.

Reply

[-]

Living-Ad5574@reddit

It's quite normal to get more cranky as one gets older. It could be just that. Source: I'm 53.

Reply

[-]

AutoModerator@reddit

**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!** - Top-level comments to the OP must contain **genuine efforts to answer the question**. No jokes, judgements, etc. - **Don't be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on. - This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit! Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Reply

Reply to Post

52 Comments