Is there such a thing as the opposite of deafness? I am worried about DS does this sound familiar to you???

[eenybeeny]

DS (22 months) is obsessed with noise. He says the word noise at least once every 5 minutes. Often he says "loud noise". He often covers his ears up as if the noise bothers him but I have taken him to the GP and they have looked and said there is no infection. And he can hear things from very very far away and everything he hears he identifies.

Sometimes in loud places like soft play areas etc he gets upset and tears up a little and says "noise" and we have to take him somewhere quiet and reassure him its ok.

I assume this is just a toddler phase he is going through (one of several if you follow my posts ) but lately I am beginning to worry there is some other thing behind it. Dont get it. But he loves music and asks for it all the time. Dont know. Any thoughts?

I don't think you need worry at all. My 21 month old can hear his daddy BEFORE he walks through the gate, up the path and rattles his keys at the door so I guess he's hearing a familiar footstep at quite a distance.

Its useful as he also hears his 6 mth old sister when she wakes up, about 30 seconds before I hear her - and he tells me.

I attributed all this to my being older and having been to a few loud concerts - and just that people's hearing tends to get worse with time, in the same way as sight often does (don't know if that's true but it was what I assumed)

Also very into music. Very scared if next door uses their drill on the walls or the lawnmower, if our back door is open. So I just say "do you want me to close the door?" and he nods, and I do and that's ok.

dd has ears like a bat. I wonder if it's because toddlers live in the present so much that they are much more acutely aware of their environment than you are when you're older, and are thinking about all sorts and drift off a bit more.

thats a really interesting theory.

Children do have much more sensitive hearing than adults - some can even hear so well they could detect the frequencies bats use. That's why that Mosquito device for scaring teenagers away works - most grown ups can't hear it.

at bat cross reference! It's not just attention, though, they can actually hear frequencies adults can't.

It seems like its more like these are the times he feels stressed out or intimidated and is using the word noise to explain (almost poetically) how he feels

I have very accute hearing. 'Tis most annoying.

children can have sensory difficulties .. I don't think it's impossible to have overly acute hearing .. and I'd just avoid very noisy places tbh

his hearing will dull over time ..hopefully sufficiently so it isn't uncomfortable

Oh, of course - I'd forgotten the mosquito thing. Bah - so much for my theory.

Some people do have more acute hearing than others -my brother has always been much better at hearing - both at a distance and higher and lower frequencies- than the rest of our family, and even now he is in his mid fifties, he has kept a lot of his ability - for example he can hear the 'teenage scarer' frequencies that some places use to discourage teenagers from hanging around.

DO you ever feel a sort of throb in your ear when your hear a loud noise? maybe he has that? It's hard to explain. I have a sensitivity to noise that comes and goes. I don't just hear it, I experience it in my ear too, and it's slightly uncomfortable. somebody banging a spoon against a radiator would be exactly the sort of noise that would make me FEEL the sound too. DOes this help?

DD has acute hearing.. she gets it off me.. and I can hear the horrid teen scarer things too! I can be very annoying when people have TV too loud etc as well :0

My DD (2.4) is a little like this. She was hypersensitive as a teeny baby, very cranky with it. Didn't really cheer up until 15 mo or so.
She does mention noises frequently- and is often fearful of them, yet seems confident about many other things. Maybe its just the unknown he's is bothered by?

She loves music too! Obsessed with it...

My hearing becomes incredibly sensitive when I'm on the way to getting a migraine.

It's certainly possible I think.

Acute hearing can be a sympton of ASD. Sufferers wear headphones at school to screen out extra noise.

quick question before I read the whole thread - what is ASD? I see it mentioned a lot on MN but have been too embarrassed to ask. sorry!

My dd has always been funny about the sound of the toilet flushing, she runs out of the bathroom when I get her to actualy flush it, but also loves music

I think it's Autistic Spectrum Disorders?

I am weird I have sometimes very very very good hearing but I had an accident several years ago that left me with every so slightly hearing impaired in my left ear.

I was on a plane home from Vienna and had a terrible cold and sinuses very blocked up and my ear drum burst. Absolutely horrific and painful.

I have honestly never heard of this noise repellant thing with teenagers - can someone please tell me about it????

Thank you all for your thoughts. I will keep an eye on it and mention it to my HV who is pretty good and see what she has to say. What age does ASD usually get diagnosed with? I will look it up.

Mosquito device to repel teenagers!

That is mental!!! I had no idea that existed!!! DH says a lot of people have sued over the use of them! Are they common?? I sometimes feel like I live in a cave I seem so unaware of things!!!

There was something in the paper this week saying that they might be banned as they infringed teenagers' human rights!

My DD wasn't able to cope with noise very well when she was younger. She had sensory issues generally I think eg very sensitive scalp, found some types of materials very uncomfortable. She is 9 now and it isn't so much of an issue as she has improved a lot with age.

ASD is diagnosed only after an extensive, multi-disciplinary process that involves observations, assessments and meetings. Some children (such as my ds) can be dx as young as 3yrs old but many are dx much older (especially if the dx is Asperger syndrome, which can be dx as late at 10yrs old).

You mention only that your ds has sensitive hearing. This can be a trait of autism, however, unless your ds has communication, social and imaginary play difficulties, then it is unlikely that your ds is on the spectrum.

It's called hyperacuisis.