Are You Noise Sensitive? Here's How to Tell
As a mom of three boys, I can barely hear my thoughts against the cacophony of my brood plotting their next Minecraft moves, bartering Pokémon cards, or singing a Weird Al parody. They’re not fighting or wreaking havoc, but life with three energetic school-aged kids is, well, noisy … and I’m noise sensitive.It turns out, I’m in good company. According to a 2023 PLOS One study conducted in the UK, nearly one in five adults have some level of noise sensitivity. And Richard J. Salvi, cofounder and director of the University at Buffalo's Center for Hearing and Deafness, tells me that at least 29 medical conditions are linked to noise sensitivity.People with hyperacusis or misophonia, for example, find everyday sounds unbearable. Other people have a sensory sensitivity (often from sensory processing disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or autism). Still others may suffer from chronic ailments like migraine, fibromyalgia, or mental health issues, where loud sounds exacerbate symptoms.But even without a diagnosable “condition,” repetitive exposure to loud sounds can impact your health. The good news: Once you get a full hearing evaluation to ensure your sensitivity to sound doesn’t reflect early signs of a hearing disorder, myriad tools can make the noise level in your immediate environment more tolerable, or at least block your ability to hear it.Turn Down the VolumeIn the 1970s, the Environmental Protection Agency treated noise just like any other environmental pollutant. Society was conscientious of the effects of sound as a form of pollution, and the government regulated it as such. Unfortunately, since the Reagan Administration phased out funding for Noise Abatement and Control in 1981, our world has grown exponentially louder. Some of these noises are being piped directly into our ears (thank you, ear pods!), but others are a product of noise pollution.“Everyone has a different threshold of sensitivity to sound. But we know that repeated exposure to sounds above 75 to 85 decibels for more than eight hours a day can damage your auditory system,” says Deanna K. Meinke, an audiologist and audiology professor and researcher at the University of Northern Colorado and codirector of Dangerous Decibels. That’s about the noise output your lawnmower or power tool produces. But the louder the sound, the greater the risk to your hearing—even at shorter durations. In fact, listening at 100 decibels for just 15 minutes (about the sound level of a bulldozer) delivers the same hit to your hearing as seven or eight hours at 85 decibels.“Our ears distort sound when it’s loud,” Meinke says. “So whether you’re noise sensitive or not, turning the volume down is positive for everyone”—a point I tried to drive home when I introduced my boys to my newly downloaded NIOSH Sound Level Meter (SLM), a handy app that allows you to measure your “dose” so you can monitor your progress toward creating a quieter, calmer environment.Salvi tells me that normal speech hovers around 70 decibels. During the first week, SLM measured our mealtime conversations at 80 decibels and the boys’ roughhousing typically hits 90. When the boys were out of school, SLM alerted me that I’d reached 100 percent of my daily dose of loud sounds before 1 pm “Too loud!” I yelled, far above the 90-decibel level. Clearly, I needed more than a meter to preserve my sanity … and my hearing.Do You Hear What I Hear?Decades of research shows that excess noise creates a host of issues from the obvious (hearing loss and sleep problems) to the insidious (heart disease, metabolic disturbances, anxiety and depression). For the 20 to 40 percent of people who are noise sensitive, sounds above a certain decibel trigger the amygdala, the reptilian part of the brain designed to protect us, to fire on all cylinders.“The brain interprets a sound as toxic, and the nervous system reacts with the fight/flight response,” says Jennifer Brout, cofounder of the Sensory Processing and Emotion Regulation Program at Duke University, who suffers from misophonia. It’s not a psychological disorder, but rather a multidisciplinary disorder that ultimately has psychological effects because the affected person is in a constant state of stress.
Every person has a different idea of what makes noise “loud,” but there are some things we all can do to turn the volume down a little.
As a mom of three boys, I can barely hear my thoughts against the cacophony of my brood plotting their next Minecraft moves, bartering Pokémon cards, or singing a Weird Al parody. They’re not fighting or wreaking havoc, but life with three energetic school-aged kids is, well, noisy … and I’m noise sensitive.
It turns out, I’m in good company. According to a 2023 PLOS One study conducted in the UK, nearly one in five adults have some level of noise sensitivity. And Richard J. Salvi, cofounder and director of the University at Buffalo's Center for Hearing and Deafness, tells me that at least 29 medical conditions are linked to noise sensitivity.
People with hyperacusis or misophonia, for example, find everyday sounds unbearable. Other people have a sensory sensitivity (often from sensory processing disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or autism). Still others may suffer from chronic ailments like migraine, fibromyalgia, or mental health issues, where loud sounds exacerbate symptoms.
But even without a diagnosable “condition,” repetitive exposure to loud sounds can impact your health. The good news: Once you get a full hearing evaluation to ensure your sensitivity to sound doesn’t reflect early signs of a hearing disorder, myriad tools can make the noise level in your immediate environment more tolerable, or at least block your ability to hear it.
Turn Down the Volume
In the 1970s, the Environmental Protection Agency treated noise just like any other environmental pollutant. Society was conscientious of the effects of sound as a form of pollution, and the government regulated it as such. Unfortunately, since the Reagan Administration phased out funding for Noise Abatement and Control in 1981, our world has grown exponentially louder. Some of these noises are being piped directly into our ears (thank you, ear pods!), but others are a product of noise pollution.
“Everyone has a different threshold of sensitivity to sound. But we know that repeated exposure to sounds above 75 to 85 decibels for more than eight hours a day can damage your auditory system,” says Deanna K. Meinke, an audiologist and audiology professor and researcher at the University of Northern Colorado and codirector of Dangerous Decibels. That’s about the noise output your lawnmower or power tool produces. But the louder the sound, the greater the risk to your hearing—even at shorter durations. In fact, listening at 100 decibels for just 15 minutes (about the sound level of a bulldozer) delivers the same hit to your hearing as seven or eight hours at 85 decibels.
“Our ears distort sound when it’s loud,” Meinke says. “So whether you’re noise sensitive or not, turning the volume down is positive for everyone”—a point I tried to drive home when I introduced my boys to my newly downloaded NIOSH Sound Level Meter (SLM), a handy app that allows you to measure your “dose” so you can monitor your progress toward creating a quieter, calmer environment.
Salvi tells me that normal speech hovers around 70 decibels. During the first week, SLM measured our mealtime conversations at 80 decibels and the boys’ roughhousing typically hits 90. When the boys were out of school, SLM alerted me that I’d reached 100 percent of my daily dose of loud sounds before 1 pm “Too loud!” I yelled, far above the 90-decibel level. Clearly, I needed more than a meter to preserve my sanity … and my hearing.
Do You Hear What I Hear?
Decades of research shows that excess noise creates a host of issues from the obvious (hearing loss and sleep problems) to the insidious (heart disease, metabolic disturbances, anxiety and depression). For the 20 to 40 percent of people who are noise sensitive, sounds above a certain decibel trigger the amygdala, the reptilian part of the brain designed to protect us, to fire on all cylinders.
“The brain interprets a sound as toxic, and the nervous system reacts with the fight/flight response,” says Jennifer Brout, cofounder of the Sensory Processing and Emotion Regulation Program at Duke University, who suffers from misophonia. It’s not a psychological disorder, but rather a multidisciplinary disorder that ultimately has psychological effects because the affected person is in a constant state of stress.