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does your child have sensitive hearing?

post #1 of 16
6/6/07 at 7:23pm
Thread Starter 
like they can't handle certain sounds or noises? my son has problems with public bathrooms and babies. the bathroom toilets are usually really loud when you flush them and he'llcover his ears when they're flushed and he'll run out the bathroom if i use a hand dryer. he has a real problem with babies crying too, which scares me because i could give birth to his sister anytime in the next few weeks. he gets very angry when a baby cries or babbles loudly. i'm affaid of he he's going to treat his new sister. he's gotten a bit pushy with my niece who's only 10 months old. he even yelled at a baby in the parking lot who was crying. my sister reminded me that i have sensitive hearing too. i guess i've just learned to deal with it as i got older. does anyone have any insight on how i should handle this? could it be some sort of neurological or behavioral disorder? maybe i'm just over thinking it and he'll be fine with his sister.
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post #2 of 16
6/6/07 at 7:29pm
Marah Jade has very sensative hearing but I don't think she has an actual disorder just doesn't like loud sounds. She hasn't specifically complained about babies but HATES toliets flushing, movies, fire works, every noisy ride at Disneyland she covered her ears. I think it is the sudden sound that bothers her as much as anything.
post #3 of 16
6/6/07 at 8:03pm
My dd has always had a problem with loud noises- toilets, babies crying (other children in general), vacuums, loud coughing, dogs barking, people in restaurants/busy malls, people laughing, people singing. She gets very, very upset.
I've been reading about a magnesium defficiency that can cause noise sensitivity. You could look into that.
http://www.ctds.info/noise-sensitivity.html
post #4 of 16
6/6/07 at 8:12pm
Preston is very sensitive to lud noises as well. Thats why we try to keep it calm and quiet at our house.
post #5 of 16
6/6/07 at 9:13pm
My 4 year old is very sensitive to lots of things and sound is definitely one of them. My dd (2 years) is going through a screaming phase (you know those really high-pitched ones) and almost every time she screams, ds plugs his ears, screams himself, starts crying and runs to his room. If we could just skip all those other parts and just get to the excusing himself to his room that would be great

I know that I am noise-sensitive so I get where ds is coming from. We spend a lot of time really watching where we go and looking for signs that ds is getting overwhelmed with all the noises.
post #6 of 16
6/6/07 at 10:39pm
DD1 is VERY sensitive to sounds and is always complaining about them. I always wondered if there was a syndrome associated...like opposite of deafness? Anyway, I have sensitive ears but am not bothered. DD1 wants to physically remove herself - eg. from an idling car engine if she's outside of the car, a concert we went to with African drums, and so on. I don't know how to help her short of earplugs.
post #7 of 16
6/6/07 at 10:45pm
DS is also sensitive to loud sounds. Public toilets flushing, hand dryers, screaming, etc. I think it's fairly common. The other day I asked him if he wanted to go to a movie (they have kids' movies playing all summer for free at one theater) and he said, "Nope. Too loud."
post #8 of 16
6/7/07 at 12:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by RainCoastMama View Post
DD1 is VERY sensitive to sounds and is always complaining about them. I always wondered if there was a syndrome associated...like opposite of deafness? Anyway, I have sensitive ears but am not bothered. DD1 wants to physically remove herself - eg. from an idling car engine if she's outside of the car, a concert we went to with African drums, and so on. I don't know how to help her short of earplugs.
There is a syndrome - sensory processing disorder. There are many different symptoms and it usually manifests in more than one way. There is a post on the special needs board about "SPD" which has some links that might be helpful if you want to check them out.
post #9 of 16
6/7/07 at 7:53am
Absolutely!!! It has gotten better, ds is 5.5, but still has Way sensitive hearing. When he was smaller, he Hated going to church because of the music. It would really bother him, and it would bother him when we were anywhere and we started to sing Babies bother him as well, he will ask to move to a different part of a restaurant if we are seated around a baby! For him I don't just think it is the noise, but the sound of crying bothers him because he equates crying with sadness - he is a sensitive little soul (as I am myself). He as well hates bathroom noises, not to mention those darn toilets that flush by themselves - how is this child friendly and what idiot invented those?! Hand dryers, etc. you name it. We solved those dilemmas just by me asking him if he's ready for me to flush so he can cover his ears (I don't have a problem with that) and we carry antibacterial wipes around so he doesn't have to use hand dryers).

As for the baby thing, I try to explain that babies cry for different reasons and it's like a puzzle, you need to figure out what they need and give it to them and (hopefully) they will stop crying and they are usually Not crying just because they are sad, but that they need something. If it were my son, I'd be buying him a crying doll and have him carry it around and when the crying sound was activated I'd be asking him, "Ok, baby is crying, do you think they are hungry? Need a diaper change? Let's try to figure out what baby needs" etc. That might be really helpful!
post #10 of 16
6/7/07 at 3:28pm
Two books to read:

The Highly Sensitive Child
The Out of Sync Child (or Sensational Kids)

Both of my children have HIGHLY sensitive hearing. As in they say "what's that noise" when most adults around them are saying "what noise?" (Thankfully I have highly sensitive hearing too.) As in they startle and freak out and other kids don't notice that there was a loud noise. Public bathrooms were a nightmare for a long time. Jet planes still freak ds out.

The difference between my 2 kids is that dd can calm down afterwards, and isn't as afraid the 3rd or 4th time hearing a noise. Ds never could. We've had him in OT for sensory processing issues for about a year and have seen great improvement. Dd is the highly sensitive child. Ds is the out of sync one.
post #11 of 16
6/7/07 at 10:17pm
Thread Starter 
wow, i didn't realize it was so common. thanks for all the links and book suggestions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by onlyzombiecat View Post
i went through the check list on ^ that site and both me and my DS had a lot of the symptoms. i guess he gets it from me. i'm hoping this baby doesn't cry as much as DS did in the beginning. maybe since it's his sister he might not get so angry when she cries.
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post #12 of 16
6/8/07 at 1:40pm
My son is sound-sensitive; his occupational therapist calls it auditorily defensive. He cannot tolerate sudden loud noises - they make him so angry (he's nearly 6). You've gotten a lot of good recommendations here but I also wanted to add a book rec - "Sensational Kids" by Lucy Jane Miller. It is about sensory processing disorder and is my new fave on the topic.
post #13 of 16
6/8/07 at 2:40pm
Yes, add my dd to the list. I second the Highly Sensitive CHild. THat was helpful for me.
post #14 of 16
6/13/07 at 2:29am
I have 3 boys and they have all gone through a sensitive hearing stage from approximately 2 1/2 to about 4. Assuming there is nothing actually wrong, I think kids tend to learn to tune out things as they approach school age and before that are really affected by noise. Younger, they are more concerned about getting fed, changed, etc.
post #15 of 16
6/13/07 at 7:21pm
I'll add a vote for checking out books and website about sensory processing disorder. My daughter is also very sensitive to sounds and for many things has learned to cover her ears, but certain things still completely set her off. We are looking at finding her a pair of earphones she can use when we want to go someplace we know will have something that bothers her. I'm also in the midst of trying to set up an OT eval for her to discuss her sensory stuff and fine motor skills.
post #16 of 16
6/14/07 at 2:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by babywearingmama View Post
I have 3 boys and they have all gone through a sensitive hearing stage from approximately 2 1/2 to about 4. Assuming there is nothing actually wrong, I think kids tend to learn to tune out things as they approach school age and before that are really affected by noise. Younger, they are more concerned about getting fed, changed, etc.
I think that's true for typically developing kids. One of the reasons we pursued OT for our son was because he hit 4, and then 5 and did NOT learn to filter out background sounds. He's better now (we've been doing listening therapy for a year), but he still has super sensitive hearing. And being in loud environments is really, really hard on him. He can hold it together while we're there, but we usually have a meltdown later in the day. His system just gets so overloaded.

So, if the OPs child is over 4 and she's noticing issues in filtering, I'd definitely look into sensory processing disorder.
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