Arjan, that is one horrible story, sorry to hear that.
I guess concerts are a big no-no for you huh...
I guess concerts are a big no-no for you huh...
How the Brain Tunes Out Background Noise
- Thread starter Deepak
- Start date
arjan de lumens
Veteran
No offense taken, although your posting did confuse me for a moment.wireframe said:
I have a weak one myself. Not enough to actually be annoying (except immediately after I have listened to loud music), but I think I can see how it can drive people out of their minds over time.I've got something like that: tinnitus. Talk about annoying. Not being able to tune out noise that isn't even there.
Wasn't there some news recently about an antidepressant that turned out to be quite effective against tinnitus?
arjan de lumens said:
My dad had a similar problem in that he couldn't distinguish sounds from background noise, and certainly could not hear someone talking over a washing machine when everyone else could. He was missing certain pitches of sound and only recieving the deeper vowel like sounds. Instead of hearing
"come here dad"
he heard
"ome... ee.. ah"
As well as any other sounds there at the same time, giving him a hearding aid that apmlified those frequencies he's not "tuned into" helped a lot. Doubt you have the same condition, but its a suggestion based on simialr symptoms.
arjan de lumens
Veteran
Strangely not. For some reason, I don't react badly to music. So when the band or DJ starts to play and take over 100% of the sound picture, I am fine (although having to deal with the noise of crowds before/after the actual show is horrible). I have also been able to use this as a coping strategy in everyday life: if I know that I will be placed in a noisy setting for a moderate amount of time (e.g. train or plane rides), I dig out my Discman/Walkman, put on some black metal music and crank up the volume as far as my pain threshold allows. The nature and the volume of such music is quite effective in blocking out unwanted sounds, but it's quite tiresome to do it too much.london-boy said:
Arjan have you considered ear surgury or some sort of device to filter the sound out for you automatically?
Im rather curious about your condition actually, did it hit you from one day to the next or was it very gradual? Did you struggle with this slightly as a child?
What you describe occurs sometimes in post traumatic stress disorder cases, often with veterans of war. The association with loud or myriad confusing noises with the stress and concentration of war can literally change their brain chemistry. AFAIR there are some therapies involved that have been somewhat beneficial.
Im rather curious about your condition actually, did it hit you from one day to the next or was it very gradual? Did you struggle with this slightly as a child?
What you describe occurs sometimes in post traumatic stress disorder cases, often with veterans of war. The association with loud or myriad confusing noises with the stress and concentration of war can literally change their brain chemistry. AFAIR there are some therapies involved that have been somewhat beneficial.
arjan de lumens
Veteran
I used to have lots of problems distinguishing between sounds that I heard at the same time, as well as general speech recognition - to such an extent that if I went to a party (several years before I started to have the important/unimportant-sound filtering problems) I would be able to make out only about 10% of what was said in any conversation I tried to listen to. This has gotten a little bit less problematic (although I have had very limited opportunity to train such a skill), but still not very good. This is NOT a problem with the ear; I have had my hearing tested several times, every time with the result that I score slightly above average on every test tone.sytaylor said:
arjan de lumens said:
Wow sorry to sound somewhat "amazed" but your condition really sounds so unusual i can't help but feel really interested...
arjan de lumens
Veteran
While I have heard about such filters but never been successful in actually getting access to one. As for ear surgery, I have considered intentionally inflicting deafness on myself, but never actually gotten around to do it (I don't feel an immediate need right now).Fred said:
From one day to the next. I have been unable to identify any particuar event or precursor for this condition.
I was bullied for a couple of years in primary school, which I believe have given me other problems - that could be relevant. Also, I have been able to find that children with Autism sometimes suffer this condition from birth and throughout their entire lives - this is probably relevant since I apparently show many traits of Autism/Aspergers otherwise, but acquring such a condition in adult age is still rather uncommon in that group too.
Another thing you can try are drugs like Ritalin or Aderol. I suffered from periods of hyper concentration (shrinks call this reverse ADD) followed by brief interludes of exhaustion. Curiously the remedy in those situations is identical to when you actually have ADD and involves a stimulant.
The drug effectively low pass filters tons of extraneous signals allowing the brain to relax into a more normal rhythms.
The drug effectively low pass filters tons of extraneous signals allowing the brain to relax into a more normal rhythms.
arjan de lumens
Veteran
That's OK, don't worry. It is (or at least should be) quite interesting from a psychological/neurological research point of view.london-boy said:
It isn't very nice condition, but I feel it has greatly helped my understanding of mental illness in general.
arjan de lumens
Veteran
Please go ahead; the more I can learn about this condition, the better. The psychiatrists etc I have been in touch with so far seem to be rather puzzled by my case - not only the filtering issue, which seems to be very apparent in certain neurological tests but doesn't match any case they've seen before, but also by stuff like my reaction to alcohol (which has more in common with catatonia than with traditional drunkenness).Fred said:
arjan de lumens said:
Google it.
Sorry, i just HAD to.
arjan de lumens
Veteran
Nah. I have tried several times, but found it surprisingly hard to find keywords that would give me relevant/useful hits.london-boy said:
arjan de lumens
Veteran
Wasn't sure what this term meant, so I tried to read up and do a test at learning-styles-online.com . The answer appears to be a rather clear 'no'.nelg said:
Moderate fear of crowds. This has appeared after the filtering condition appeared, but is sometimes bothersome even if I use the Walkman "protection" I mentioned above.
Possible social phobia: I generally find informal discussions very difficult, both to initiate and to maintain, and usually either avoid them or try to turm them into more specific/formal/technical discussions. More formal situations are easy; I always used to find e.g. exams mildly relaxing.
Not really sure. I have always had difficulties falling asleep (~2 hours from I go to bed until I fall asleep is typical), but I rarely have trouble getting a reasonably normal amount of sleep once I do fall asleep. For some odd reason, if I set my alarm clock I always wake up just BEFORE it rings, no matter what time I actually set it to.
arjan de lumens said:
I have that exact problem, it somewhat impedes on my dating skills at discos and larger parties. (That is to say, completely impedes)
It started a year or two after my tinnitus set in. One thing that's interesting about my tinnitus is that I have become so accustomed to try and filter it out that I automatically filter out other informations such as someone calling my name. It's almost as if I was hearing impared when the truth is I have better hearing than most save for the frequencys my tinnitus is ringing at. Funny thing though, when there's a louder than expected noise such as when someone raises their voice because they're irritated with me ignoring them, I jump to. I must appear very skiddish I guess. Don't get me started on cars honking their horns, I could win the olympic high jump final just by a moped giving me a buzz.arjan de lumens said:
Zoloft. I am not sure taking something like that is what I want to do. I fear the cure more than the disease.
PS. I actually acquired some when I read about it just a few weeks ago. I was full of hope, but then, when it became real in my hands, I started having second thoughts. Browsing the Internet and reading up on possible side-effects of the drug didn't exactly help either.
arjan de lumens
Veteran
People tend to react very differently to antidepressants; I know people who have been helped greatly by them and other people who have experienced nothing but unpleasant side-effects. My personal experience - my psychiatrist put me on another SSRI at one point - was a bit disturbing: first, I got vaguely sick for ~2 weeks, then I was basically OK but with a very flattened emotional life, then after ~1 year I started to get strong urges to self-injure (which I did manage to resist), which went away when I went off that stuff and haven't returned since.wireframe said:Zoloft. I am not sure taking something like that is what I want to do. I fear the cure more than the disease.
PS. I actually acquired some when I read about it just a few weeks ago. I was full of hope, but then, when it became real in my hands, I started having second thoughts. Browsing the Internet and reading up on possible side-effects of the drug didn't exactly help either.
Still, given my history I believe there is ample reason to consider me as a very non-representative case. The actual risks of this class of drugs will inherently be overstated by the minority of people who have had bad experiences and downplayed by Big Pharma. It's your choice and you who have to assess risks/rewards for yourself. If I had major tinnitus I would not hesitate to try them myself, though.
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