Ds (4.8) Covers ears when he hears loud noises. Am I over-reacting ?

[Oblomov]

He's been doing it for a while:
When the hoover is on - we do have a very loud dyson, that even my mum said was loud, but is past its warranty/repair date.
When a loud motorbike, like a harley d, goes past.
When he hears a car alarm, the school bell (he started this week)
When I shout at him

So I took him to Gp, just to ask.
She talked to him, said his speech was good. Looked in his ears, said nothing wrong. Asked if he has had his pre-school checks yet - which he hasn't - is he supposed to have a hearing test soon then ?
She said that a hearing test would only pick up if he was unable to hear me, ignored me when I called him. Which is not the case.

She said there was nothing that can be done.

But is there ?
Am I over-reacting ? I have BUPA at work, so could get his referred. Surely it is not NICE to have ..... over sensitive hearing. Or am I making a meal out of nothing ?

LOL at 'when I shout at him'.

sorry... i'm no help.

Has his sensitivity coincided with starting school? It could be that the noisiness of the school day is taking a bit of time to adjust to and making him a bit noise-sensitive, in which case I'd imagine it would improve as he got used to it all.

I know that I am more noise-sensitive when I'm a bit stressed.

I have always done this and still do at 30, even when my Mum is talking to me sometimes I have to ask her to talk a bit more quietly because it can almost be painful.

I just figured I was more sensitive to noise than other people.

Thanks for the 'sound' [wink advice. No seriously, it has been going on for a while. Is there really nothing that can be done then ?

My DS2 does this......I think it stems from having many ear infections when he was tiny and also two burst eardrums. It has left him sensitive.

He also does not like the wind....says it makes his ears feel funny and he does not like the 'rushing' sound as the wind blows past his ears.

He is currently waiting for a referral thro school (he is 6, yr2) as the teacher has also noticed that he speaks in 'playground' voice a lot.

Not sure if it is connected, but if you think he hears fine, just sensitivly, then try not to fret.

dd still does this at 8! She can't stand discos or when the classroom gets noisy. But she does have fab hearing like me and as i can still hear bats (and very annoying ultrasound cat scarers) its probably not all bad.

My son is the same and has been since around 2yrs old (he's 3.5 now). I was told firstly that it's behavioural, that he is a "sensitive" child and that can mean he's more sensitive to noise too- and have since read a lot about Highly Sensitive Children, which he fits quite well. But since then I have talked to some other parents who have found this to happen after ear infections or when ears are very waxy/bunged up (I assumed this would make it harder to hear but apparently it affects how sound frequency is received...). DS has only had a couple of ear infections, certainly no glue ear, but I'm now thinking of making a GP appt just to ask for his hearing to be tested etc maybe through an ENT consultant.

I have also read that some people are more sensitive to certain frequencies which can make noises very loud to them, and therapies are being developed which basically subject them to lots of white noise to allow the brain to re-wire it's hearing section to "dumb-down" certain sound frequencies that were being perceived abnormally....

Anyways if it is becoming a problem I would push for further investigation by an ENT consultnat. DS's has improved a bit recently but am still thinking I should really get it further checked out...

My dd (5) is the same, but it purely because she finds loud noises frightening/overwhelming. She has had her hearing checked at school and no problems there. She covers her ears when we go the theatre, and at parties where there is a clown/entertainer.

Hope you get some answers.

My ds2 age 3 nearly 4 does this too. No ear infections that I know of but he is a very sensitive child and our homelife is very noisy.

My DS does the same(4) and has done since about 2. I don't think it is the actual loudness of the noise, it is often a fear thing.

When I mentioned it to teacher at nursery, she said it was to control outside stimuli!

DS used to do it during music at nursery because he was scared of the piano, not because it was loud!

For what it's worth Ds has good hearing and is not especially sensitive, it's just how some children control their enviroment. It's a good pointer for me to see when he is nervous or unsure and makes it easy to give extra reassurance.