Why do I have this reaction to this noise?

billwill

Ok, so throughout my entire life I've had this strange reaction to a seemingly normal noise that, now that I think about it, I really haven't encountered in anyone else.

It's the noise that is made when someone is writing with a dry marker, or when someone is rubbing their hand on a certain kind of extremely soft and fuzzy cloth. It makes me purse my lips, my arms feel numb, and it forces involuntary shudders throughout my body.

I haven't really thought about it much...it's always been the thing that people do to annoy me and we laugh about it, but I just experienced it a few minutes while trying to write with an old marker and it got me thinking. Is it something that happened in my past that makes me hate that noise? I'm guessing maybe some people are just born with that kind of reaction to certain noises?

Thanks.

Terrendos

I have a similar problem, though for me it's for sounds like fingernails on a plastic-blend cloth. That kind of "zipping" noise makes me shiver.

I'd wager it's sort of a "born with" problem, because I can't imagine a conditioned response from childhood lasting into adulthood without reinforcement. And I've been conditioned with an auditory trigger before.

nuka

I've yet to meet someone who can't stand the sound of clay pots rubbing together.

Not everyone has to react to high pitched noises.

ProPatriaMori

The sound of latex rubbing (say, when someone is making a balloon animal) will do similar things to me. I don't know if it's terribly uncommon.

billwill

ProPatriaMori wrote: »

The sound of latex rubbing (say, when someone is making a balloon animal) will do similar things to me. I don't know if it's terribly uncommon.

I mean I know other people have their unique triggers, I'm just curious as to why your trigger is latex rubbing and my trigger is a dry marker.

adejaan

Mine is glass rubbing against that rubber cabinet liner stuff. I HATE that noise.

Technicality

I get the chalk thing, and my personal theory on it is this:

I once got one of my teeth fixed at the back of my mouth, and it ended up sticking out ever so slightly more than it was supposed to. I got exactly the same kind of noise in my jaw and reaction when I was eating and ground my teeth a certain way. Part of the reaction is opening my jaw, so this was a good thing at the time to protect it. My theory is that they are built in reactions to the noises teeth make when they are being damaged, as a kind of backup in case all the nerves that are the primary means of protecting them aren't working for whatever reason.

Why different people react to different ones to different degrees though is a mystery to me.

L|ama

Yeah I get it with chalk and really sharp pencils scraping on paper.

Weird thing is I never used to get it even with fingernails on a chalkboard, I know because I would do it to piss people off. No idea when it started either, probably early-mid teens. The only part of the reaction I get is shivers down my back though.

ImDrawingABlank

My boss has that reaction with the sound of tearing a piece of emery cloth in half, my own personal thing is the sound of cutlery touching plates, or chewing. It bothers me so much I eat either in private, or noisy places to get away from it.

The Cat

Just because something bothers you in a sensory fashion doesn't mean there's something wrong with you. Everyone has nervous-system quirks, and that's okay. Some people react to certain sounds, or smells, some people really hate the texture of certain fabrics, some people hate the taste of chocolate. Poor bastards.

High-pitched noises and noises with a certain...texture, lets say, do set a lot of people off, though. Its interesting, because you're 'supposed' to lose sensitivity to such as you age.

Lintilla

My boyfriend has some weird sound quirks. He was shocked to learn other people aren't totally sickened by the same noises that bother him. He's decided he has something called Soft Sound Sensativity Syndrome While I'm not sure how legit it is as a disease, this article is sort of an interesting technical description of what happens.

MKR

I can't stand the sound of some kinds of metal making contact with other types of metal. It's probably a weird brain thing we all have, but it manifests itself in different ways. My dad can't stand the sound of windshield wipers up against glass that isn't drenched.

TychoCelchuuu

I hate the sound of whispering, more specifically the sibilant "ss" sound that you get when you can't really hear much of the whisper at all.

ApexMirage

I have the same problem as the OP, with markers and seemingly random types of tissues and toiler paper. I'm surprised there isn't a Wikipedia page on the issue, but at the same time I'm glad I'm not insane.

TheUnsane1

Markers on cardboard or styrofoam either rubbing on cardboard or other pieces of styrofoam do this to me, also velvet fabric when I touch it gives me a similar feeling.

Raekreu

billwill wrote: »

Ok, so throughout my entire life I've had this strange reaction to a seemingly normal noise that, now that I think about it, I really haven't encountered in anyone else.

It's the noise that is made when someone is writing with a dry marker, or when someone is rubbing their hand on a certain kind of extremely soft and fuzzy cloth. It makes me purse my lips, my arms feel numb, and it forces involuntary shudders throughout my body.

I haven't really thought about it much...it's always been the thing that people do to annoy me and we laugh about it, but I just experienced it a few minutes while trying to write with an old marker and it got me thinking. Is it something that happened in my past that makes me hate that noise? I'm guessing maybe some people are just born with that kind of reaction to certain noises?

Thanks.

The sound of a quill or fountain pen being used makes my skin crawl, for some reason the scritching sound just bothers the bejeezus out of me. I get the same reaction from more typical creepy-crawly sounds like nails on a chalkboard or metal scraping on concrete.

Cervetus

L|ama wrote: »

Weird thing is I never used to get it even with fingernails on a chalkboard, I know because I would do it to piss people off. No idea when it started either, probably early-mid teens. The only part of the reaction I get is shivers down my back though.

Well it's a lot easier to tolerate something when you're the one who did it, but you still might have been immune. For me the sound itself doesn't bother me so much, but I have a weird thing about fingernails so it makes me think about the actual act and my fingernails feel vulnerable.

MKR

Cervetus wrote: »

L|ama wrote: »

Weird thing is I never used to get it even with fingernails on a chalkboard, I know because I would do it to piss people off. No idea when it started either, probably early-mid teens. The only part of the reaction I get is shivers down my back though.

Well it's a lot easier to tolerate something when you're the one who did it, but you still might have been immune. For me the sound itself doesn't bother me so much, but I have a weird thing about fingernails so it makes me think about the actual act and my fingernails feel vulnerable.

Yay, I'm not the only one.

ProPatriaMori

billwill wrote: »

ProPatriaMori wrote: »

The sound of latex rubbing (say, when someone is making a balloon animal) will do similar things to me. I don't know if it's terribly uncommon.

I mean I know other people have their unique triggers, I'm just curious as to why your trigger is latex rubbing and my trigger is a dry marker.

Just about any complicated system that relies on a large number of interior and exterior interaction and depends on a large number of variables has its own quirks. That's what I'd chalk it up to.

admanb

For me it's the texture of silk/fake silk cloth.

ApexMirage

admanb wrote: »

For me it's the texture of silk/fake silk cloth.

On dry skin D=

Scalfin

I just can't figure out why it doesn't work, or doesn't work as well, through speakers.