A reply to: Jess, Jane, Marsha, Pia and all.

[Guest guest]

Jess - Growing up I lived with my mom and she was the WORST when it

comes to mouth sounds. She chews with her mouth WIDE open (which is

annoying to look at as well). When I was little she would come sit

right next to me with her banana in hand--then I'd give her the look,

and she would exclaim, " can't I even be comfortable in my own

house??? " . As if every time she was surprised that yes, I'm still

annoyed. " Can't I?? " I would reply... Now I live with my dad, and

sounds annoy him too (an inheritable genetic trait?) and we are both

very considerate of each other. I have no natural lighting in my room

because my window has thick sound proofing on it, and at night if I

come home after he's asleep, I slooooooowly creep up the stairs so I

won't make a sound. I'm a heavy sleeper so traffic sounds don't really

bother me, but it's not a bad trade off for some peace of mind of my own.

Jane - Thank you for your welcome message, you're right, it's always

important to take care of yourself. Thanks for reminding me of that.

And good luck finding a quiet house!! In the mean time you may want to

put sound proofing stuff in your windows, it really does help my dad.

Marsha - I really like the language you're speaking looking at this

from an evolutionary perspective. I'm very interested in evolutionary

psychology and wonder how SSS plays into the scheme of things. Picture

a tribe where even a few members were sensitive to soft sounds and the

potential ways this could be an enormously useful trait. Hearing the

soft food steps of an approaching predator, hearing the quiet

movements of hiding prey and being able to focus in on it and use it

to locate them. Evolution doesn't care if we are annoyed; it only

cares if our traits can be even marginally useful. But then there is

this element of reduced cognitive functioning you mention. It reminds

me of an experiment on control: two groups were subjected to really

loud and annoying sounds and then asked to do some cognitive tasks.

The difference between the groups was that one group was told if the

sound got too bad they could turn it off. Even though they never even

did turn it off, just knowing they could, knowing they had control

over it, allowed them to perform much better on the cognitive tasks.

If you're interested I can find the study name for you.

Pia - Mouth sound haters group? I love it! My best friend (not the one

I'm having a problem with) knows all about my situation and my

discovery of SSSS. I told her about this group and she now refers to

it as 'S to the 7th' or the " sssssss... " sound, short for Soft Sound

Sensitivity Syndrome Sufferers Support System!

Until next time

mlostwo