Do loud sounds bother you?

I don't know if this is an MS thing or not, but I have a lot of trouble focusing when there is loud background noise. Does anyone else have that? It's like sensory overload or something.

I just went to my MS Walk this weekend and they had loud music playing and I couldn't hear anything. It didn't seem to bother any of the people I was with though.

It also bothers me when several people talk at once. It's like I get overwhelmed and it exhausts me and I get frustrated by it.

[jensequitur]

Oh, lord, yes.  My brain shuts down when certain kinds of noise are playing.  Unfortunately this includes when my hubby's playing the electric guitar - there's something in that frequency that my ears just can't handle.

Sometimes voices will be too loud - and even chewing noises, or the scraping of the pepper grinder, can really get on my nerves.  Packing tape and the clang of the trashcan are the worst!

I used to be able to keep up with several people at once, but now I can't, and I don't think it's my ears.  I think it's my brain - I'm no longer able to multi-task like I once was.

[PastorDan]

I've had that hearing issue at least as far back as the later 1980s.  

When I got my hearing aids two years ago, the audiologist (wonderful lady; wish she'd been a neuro) told me that the program profile they put into mine would help with some background noises, but that those in speech frequencies would be amplified.

The good thing is that these units are directional, so I hear what I'm looking toward the best.  The next best is stuff behind me (think teenager trying to sneak up on me to startle me while I am typing), with the sounds coming from the sides being the least well received.

Yes, they seem to help, but I still get thrown by loud music, and some other situations have been overwhelming.  Part of that has to do with how much sound is bouncing around the room.

Incidentally, when I first wore them home, I thought I heard my pants dragging as I walked across the lawn.  It had evidently been years since I heard the sound of the grass swishing as my shoes slipped through it.  When I realized what I was hearing, I almost couldn't believe it.

I was tempted to answer the title question, "Only when those loud sounds come from small dogs," as Bandit & Annie have really been getting on my nerves recently, jumping up & running to the door, barking, seemingly whenever a dry leaf blows off the roof.

[LATW]

Yes.  I had to leave the church service early this week because they had the volume on the key board cranked up too high!
la

[jensequitur]

I find that a cotton ball cut in half works pretty well to cut down on those noises.  It isn't enough to keep me from hearing what's going on, but it takes out that upper-end frequency that makes my eyes water.