Noise noise everywhere

[recklessruby]

Aibu in thinking the world is just too loud lately?
Supermarkets with loud music and tannoy announcements every two minutes.
People shrieking and screaming on the street.
Mobile phone calls loudly on the train and extra loud adverts on tv.
I could not concentrate in town at all yesterday and had to go home due to shop music. Mind went blank.
I am really sensitive to noise and get anxiety due to it but everyone thinks I m over reacting.
So is the world getting louder and faster or am I aibu and getting old?

and while earplugs are always suggested on MN, there can be issues with wearing them too much, especially the ones that create a tight seal - i.e. the ones that are actually good.

Plus, I think you should be able to go outside and be aware of your surroundings, not oblivious to the fact that you might get mugged.

as soon as I'm retired I'm off to the quietest place I can find, though I sometimes worry there's no such place any more.

Human beings in their various forms have been around for tens of thousands of years. The steam trains, church bells and town criers have been around for a couple of hundred. Electronically produced sound is particularly stressful. Humans aren’t designed to deal with such a bombardment of artificially produced sound.

In controlled experiments, you can kill a plant by exposing it to constant rock music.

This won't be a popular opinion on MN but I often think people take children to inappropriate places. Like the National Portrait museum, none-children friendly restaurants or to post 7pm cinema showings. Get a baby sitter and stop spoiling things for others.

It is quiet where i live. It is lovely! I hate too much noise.

I know exactly what you mean!

I tune most things out, and piped music usually doesn't bother me, but I'm pretty sure that it actually costs me a lot of energy to do so.

I agree with a PP that there's always been noise (though mentioning air raid sirens, give over ) but I'd be willing to bet that the decibel level now is considerably higher.

This article on the subject isn't brilliant but has some very interesting parts: timeline.com/acoustic-ecology-e0386f57dfa6

I am travelling from Aberdeen to London on the quiet coach next week. I m hoping people actually respect the quiet bit because a few years back we did the same thing and a man had a long and loud mobile phone call on there until told by staff to stop

@ApolloandDaphne

good to know!

motorbikes are a particular problem round here, I don't know why they are so loud.

a man had a long and loud mobile phone call on there until told by staff to stop What an arsehole. I expect near silence on the quiet coach. If you don't want that/can't do that, fuck off to another carriage.

Blasting hand dryers in toilets seem to be louder than ever before. I can't cope either with the daily noise onslaught.

I never realised how noisy the world is until I had kids. Going anywhere during nap time almost garauntees its cut short, people 'talk' so loud, tannoys, clattering and banging of coat hangers for example, cars revving round car parks, music on in every store. I've even found going to a coffee shop isn't the relaxing treat it used to be.

And don't get me started on leaf blowers!

In restaurants 50 per cent of the time I have to ask them to turn the music down - just to hear a conversation properly.

I agree with poster its not noise per se. I don't mind church bells etc. Its just the electronic bombardment.

Its all very wearing at times.

Completely agree.

I spend a lot of time travelling, and have definitely noticed a huge increase in people not using headphones over the last year or so.

Airports are full of people watching videos at full blast on their phones (as well as the usual babies screaming, children running riot and people conducting loud phonecalls, oh and the tannoy announcements etc).

I’ve even had a couple of people on flights recently watching stuff without headphones. Luckily the flight attendants have said something on those occasions.

It takes a lot of the enjoyment out of travelling for me.

I have also noticed people having "loudspeaker" conversations on their mobiles, on buses and trains. Just why???? Can anyone answer me this??? It is so selfish.

Went to the beach for a peaceful day last month. It was fairly deserted and quiet. Then some idiots come and sit about 200 meters away and put on their ghetto blaster thing. You could hear it ages away.

The next day at the beach, a man decides to sit near me - well about 100 metres away and have loud mobile conversations continuously for about half an hour. Why come to the beach for that?

I could have complained both times, but I left it. But you just get tired of the confrontation aspect, even if one is polite.

What to do?

I agree, we’re bombarded by noise any time we go outside and it’s really tough. I recommend noise cancelling headphones!

I recommend noise cancelling headphones! I can't wear these due to issues with my ears. Not that I should have to. If only people realised that others don't want to hear their conversations, music, games etc. Ignorant c's. I particularly get annoyed around Christmas when in pubs/restaurants you can tell the people that don't get out very often and make a right racket as if to let everyone else know what a great time they are having! Saddo's.

YANBU. Even libraries aren't the quiet, peaceful places they used to be anymore.

Also when is this fashion for wooden floors, bare tables and plain painted walls in restaurants going to be over? It just means every noise is magnified a thousand times. I actually find it really stressful trying to carry on a conversation in a place like that.

I have hyperacusis and when I go to the hospital they have sound isolated rooms. They're amazing! You pass through a kind of double door and once they're shut, absolute silence. If i had the room (or the money) I'd have one at home.

One note on earplugs, they're not recommended by specialists for long term use, they can make your hearing more sensitive. Use of white noise, music etc is fine though, so long as your ears hear something.

I agree almost everything is very loud now. I don't really mind music and that kind of noise but I feel like people are more shouty now. I find shouting (esp if aggressive) much more jarring than other kinds of noise.

YANBU. Even at home I can't get away from almost constant building and gardening noise. I find it very stressful.

Somebody parked across the street, maybe waiting to collect someone.

Music on loud enough for me to hear through his car, his windows are closed, as is my double glazing - and I'm a on relatively high floor.

Agree people are more shouty. Sometimes I look towards what sounds like people having a row, but it's actually just people chatting.

My husband developed Hyperacusis which was pretty shite. He has since developed tinnitus (which is also shite). I don't know if yours is this severe or not, but might be worth taking a look at symptoms and see if they resonate.

I had a lovely lunch today with my ten year old (who as I mentioned further up has sensory processing disorder). She didn't have a random meltdown, get silly about wanting to leave or where to sit or have trouble choosing what to eat. It was great. Why? We were in a Wetherspoons. They don't play music. There was general people chatter but it was blissful.

I’ve ordered some noise cancelling headphones from amazon.

YANBU - we live reasonably near to a main road and can here motorbikes tearing down the road even at 3am, dogs barking at 5am, the neighbours kids ( noisiest in the world) start up at 8am then they let their chickens out ( noisiest chickens on the planet ). It's never ending noise, drives me mad.

I agree!

I'm so sick of listening to other peoples headphones on the bus and don't get me started on the shrieking children that won't sit down and have to try out every seat on the bus.