I think it's a guy thing. I don't particularly dislike noise, but it drives me nuts when I am watching a TV show (usually when I'm ironing and DH isn't in the room) and he invariably comes in and starts rustling a package of something or talking loudly to the cats or asking me a question or doing something else noisy and then I miss some essential point of the dialogue. Grr.

That reminds me of a brand new rule at our house: no eating anything out of a cellophane bag or wrapper. When I want to drowse in front of the tv midafternoon, DH wanted to eat pretzels out of a crinkly bag. I got up, got a big ziplock bag, snatched his pretzel bag, and dumped them into the ziplock.

The ziplock bag is recyclable. Use it. Them’s the rules.

Have you looked into the possibility you have misophonia? I don't know about treatment but noise cancelling head phones, which might be a relief for you. One of my friends has this:

"Misophonia is a disorder in which certain sounds trigger emotional or physiological responses that some might perceive as unreasonable given the circumstance. Those who have misophonia might describe it as when a sound “drives you crazy.” Their reactions can range from anger and annoyance to panic and the need to flee"

Don't eat out of a bag -- unless you are a horse, of course. Remove the bag from the cupboard; put your *portion* in a dish; close the bag and put it away -- out of sight. This has the added benefit of making you consider how much effort you're willing to expend for that snack.

I like quiet in the morning. My husband is also restless. The kitchen/ family room is right above our bedroom. He walks back and forth and back and forth and back and forth getting ready to go for his early morning bike ride. I know what he has to do to get ready to go and I cant for the life of me figure out what he does and how it takes a dozen or more trips back and forth or why he has to clomp so hard doing it. That is before he puts his boots on. Some days...

Witty, for those times you prefer quiet, get some noise-cancelling headphones. Good ones work very well, even with no audio track playing through them. Or, cheaper, simple ear plugs to mute the sounds you prefer to not hear.

Having the tv on ”just for company” is something I’ve never understood. My neighbor plays CNN all day. Even when i watch tv, i use mute a lot. Imalsomappreciate silence in the morning, but I live on my own, so I always get that. On the other hand, having house guests doesnt bother me in the morning.

The bag crinkling and chomping would drive me nuts.

I appreciate peace and quiet but sounds don't usually bother me that much. But I'm not bombarded with sound all day long, so that helps. Wittynickname, are you an introvert -- I am, and while I love my DH dearly I treasure my alone time, too. "Alone time" isn't necessarily quiet, it's that no one is trying to interact with me. Perhaps you could take longer car trips, take the long way to/from work :-)

I prefer quiet, too. When I visit my parents, the television is always blaring, usually MSNBC, as both of my parents have some hearing loss. I finally realized that I needed to take my quiet time in my bedroom before I start the day. Then, I can be more tolerant of their television.

Not many everyday noise bothers me. I always lived where it is fairly quiet. My estranged hubby's blaring the TV all day and him playing country music bothered me. I hate country music , always have and he knew that. Thankfully I don't have to listen to that anymore. In the summer I like the windows open. Last summer they started grading the land for a housing plan a field over from us. I really didn't hear the equipment running, but I heard the backup beep beep. That would wake me up in the morning. I wonder what I am going to hear this summer when they start building the homes.

I understand not wanting a lot of sound around you, but, you then go on to say....

" Yet, when I drive my car to and from work I have to have the radio on and if it's a good song, I'll blast it. I'm a 60's and 70's classic rock person. If Queen is on the radio, you'll hear me before you see me. "

Couldn't you be doing the same thing to others that want quiet, if they can "hear

you" blasting your music?

Don't mean to argue...but I truly don't understand. LOL I don't "do" complete

quiet...more often than not I have my music going. Not loud...but on, but do try

not to bother others if people are around me

It's real and Uptown Girls statement along with other comments and the general perception of the population is a perfect example of why it is so difficult for those living with this condition. People with healthy normal hearing just don't get it. Looking back I realize I was sensitive to certain sounds my entire life. But because I could hear well it never occurred to me it was a very real health issue. Only after I became deafened did I learn of the all the conditions that come under the heading of hearing impaired. Unfortunately hearing impairment is one of those hidden disabilities that is one of the most least understood including by one's own friends and family, and even by many who are in the medical professions. Please check out the link below.

Hyperacusis

A bag of chips has a portion size? ha ha ha (I know it does, I'm just kidding - NOT) : )

ETA: The noise of my furnace running annoys me as well. I used to have an antique big hulking furnace, and this newer one is noisier than the old one. I'm talking about the air coming up through the registers. I have to turn up the TV when it comes on.

Yes, like Olychick said, sounds like misophonia to be sure!!!!! My niece has this. I have a slight bit of it, there is certain music that makes me want to run for the hills, a baby screaming, etc! There are stores and restaurants we avoid going to that play annoying music! At home, you should definitely look into some good ear plugs.

Sometimes when my husband annoys me, it's best that I think of how sad it would be if he wasn't here anymore. That helps get through the annoying things :)

I don't know why, but people eating with a lot of mouth noises and swallowing noises make me feel furious. The sounds trigger an intense anger. Being around a noisy eater makes me nauseaus and makes me want to stick a fork in their eye, even if it's someone I like. I've never actually done that, but I have gotten up and left to get away from sounds.

BTW, I've found that one of the pleasantest ways to get some quiet is to lie down in a nice warm bath with my ears below the waterline. I listen to my own breathing and it's very centering.

I can relate somewhat. My husband has the tv on LOUD in the morning and night. During the day he is too busy so has it off, but when he has it on it's too loud. I am starting to worry about his hearing, because he never seems to hear what I say also, but that's probably selective. The other thing he does is that he stomps when he walks. Now, he is not a big guy but I don't think he has any concept of stepping lightly. I will be in bed asleep and he stomps in and brushes his teeth then stomps into bed. We use a noise machine, and I can still hear him.

I love silence. I could be at home all day without any radio/tv on. When my brother moved in he put a woodshop in the basement so then I was treated to the sound of the electric saw. Then when my cousin asked if she could move in I said yes because I knew it would be temporary until she found an apartment geared to income. An 8 year waiting list and 3 years later she is still here. There is not a minute in the day that she does not make a noise with her throat - coughing, snorting, sniffing, clearing her throat etc. It absolutely drives me crazy. She snores loudly when she sleeps which I hear because her cot is in my living room. I love my family and would never ask them to leave but the noises can go. She has the radio on all day because she doesn't like silence. She spends most of her time in the kitchen where I am in the living room. I love when the hydro goes out during a storm and the house loses that electrical hum. One noise I don't mind is the sound of laundry being washed and dried or the morning bird song especially now. I like the sound of my fan when I am sleeping. If someone in the neighbourhood uses a loud power washer or gets their house sandblasted and it is a continuous noise I get an immediate headache. I live near the Detroit River and every year there is an Electronic Music Festival in Detroit. Even with my doors and windows closed all I hear is thump thump thump of the bass/music. haha the worst noise is the sound of the oven timer going off. It just pierces my ears. Life could be worse, so I just put up with the noise and vent once in a while to tell my cousin she needs to get her sinus drip or whatever it is taken care of because her sounds get on my last nerve.

Extreme silence bothers me quite a bit because I have severe tinnitus. My father had it too, and so I guess I inherited it from him. Since I grew up on a very large farm, it was deathly quiet at night, and my tinnitus would irritate me no end. I preferred to sleep with a noisy fan on that would make white noise, which was fine except for in the winter, which was very brief.

I also had what was diagnosed as auditory hallucinations as a child, but I did not perceive them as that. There was a fireplace in my bedroom, and I would hear voices coming from it that told them that they were going to kill me with their tomahawks or knives. I was convinced that these voices were from Native peoples who had lived on the land before my ancestors arrived, and they made it very difficult for me to go to sleep at night. My parents told me it was my imagination and were no help at all, and so I had to go to sleep in fear of my life. I would cover my head with sheets so that the voices could not see me, but they would still talk to me and torment me.

My brother also heard voices in the bedrooms, but he would talk back to them and have conversations with them. One voice in particular identified itself as one of our relatives, who turned out to be a cousin that had died in that house. He talked to my brother when my brother was three years old and could not have known about this relative - I didn't know about that relative until my brother told me his name. I had other cousins who were terrified to go into these bedrooms, even during the day. There were different and distinct voices in different rooms.

My brother does not have tinnitus, and so he is fine with total silence, but I prefer white noise. The sounds that bother me most are screaming children, but I also dislike loud sound effects from action/adventure movies that my brother likes to watch.

Lars! Oh my, I feel sorry for your childhood ordeal. ugh.

Very interesting, Lars. There are many things in this world we don’t understand.

I also abhor the sound of children screaming - as in running and playing and screeching.

I recommend these sound machines. We love them.

https://www.amazon.com/Marpac-Classic-White-Noise-Machine/dp/B00HD0ELFK/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2RVS2JCDRDW2L&keywords=Marpac-Classic-White-Noise-Machine&qid=1680008324&sprefix=marpac-classic-white-noise-machine%2Caps%2C255&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyVEMwVThKOVJRVExNJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzUyNTEyMkZHTTlEQUZRSTVWUyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNzY1NzM2MUYzV09FVFRRU0NWSyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

Thanks for the word 'misophonia' Olychick.

My husband has some hearing damage so he and I hear at different frequencies. Shrill noises bother him, but I can tune them out. If I am around loud sound like thump thump music too long, I start losing my voice. It's really weird.

I tend to prefer silence over random noise. I am not someone who leaves a TV on just for background noise.

My SO is the opposite, and has the TV on the entire time he is in the house, whether he is watching it or not.

Fortunately we both still work and so spend hours a day away from each other. (LOL.) Weekends aren't too bad either, because we both tend to work on projects or whatnot during the day, he's generally outside, and so I turn the TV off the second he leaves the house.

The sounds of children playing don't bother me. We live near a sports complex and I can often see/hear kids playing soccer or lacrosse. I actually enjoy that for some reason.

But children screaming goes straight in the base of my skull and makes me want to bite something. We used to live near a horrid family who had 3 children who screamed All. Day. Long. When I heard how their mother talked (i.e., screamed) at them I understood why, but it was unbearable for me. The kids screamed, the mother screamed, they had 2 big dogs who they let bark for hours. It's amazing how just one house and just one (feral) family can wreck a neighborhood for everyone. I was never so happy to sell a house in my life.

Sound sensitivity can be related to ADHD too. Sound sensitivity is a thing. Sometimes people don't realize how overload on human sound they are till they go camping and enjoy the "quiet". Nature really has a lot of noise. It's being called green noise currently. Most people are familiar with white noise, or static sound that has broad spectrum noise. Brown noise has more low frequency, like roaring rivers and rumbling earth or sky. There is something to be said for the theraputic nature of sound frequencies. But it's the lack of human noise that can make green and other noise seem quiet. Having sound sensitivity issues can amp up short tolerance for human noises.

There are people that a lack of human noise is just as much of a sound sensitive issue. They need the radio or TV on, or go nuts in the rural setting away from human noise for too long. It might be the lack of human noise, or it may be they have issues with other noise colors.

@Olychick I'm 100% sure I have misophonia. Haven't been to a doctor about it, but certain sounds drive me crazy. ESPECIALLY people eating noises. There was a dog bone commercial once and all it was was a dog chewing on a milkbone dog bone. I had to grab the remote to hit the mute button so fast or I would be missing a tv set!

@chisue my husband does take the chips out of the bag and he puts them in a Tupperware container with a lid. But he takes SO frikking long putting his hand in and out of the bag, opening the bag, closing the bag...........

@arkansas girl very litte music bothers me, but there is one band who music plays on our stores system and it's horrible! Sugarland. With their "woo-ooo! woo-ooo!" and other noises.... when it comes on I literally tense up. LOL

@Cherryfizz How have you not lost your mind? The last store I worked in, we had one woman who was the noisiest eater, and another who would snort her nasal passages ALL THE TIME, omg the two of them in the lunchroom at the same time? I can't tell you how many times I had to stop eating and just go back to work, or if I was about to start my break and they were in there, I would pretend to get something out of my locker and leave and not go back until I saw they were both back in the post office and pharmacy. I cannot eat with those noises, especially the nasal snorter.

I also have a bit of tinnitus. It's not loud like most peoples. I've had a constant buzz in both ears since yesterday morning. It'll just go away on its own, either that or I get used to it and don't notice it as much. Now and then I'll get a louder noise, usually just in one ear. it never lasts long. I've had it forever and maybe that's why other noises irritate the begeebies out of me. Also: our house was always quiet growing up. During the day, we kids were outside all day. There was none of this watching tv all day. TV wasn't on during the day at all when my dad was home. Mom only watched Another World, but turned it off when dad drove up. Even today, their tv is off during the day. My husband has to have it on from the minute he wakes up until he goes to bed. I can shut it off and sit on the couch and be so happy. He needs the background noise, and he too will watch the news over and over and over again to the point, I can recite the stories as they come up and yell, "are you going to change the channel EVER?"

Thank you all for your comments! And @Lars your home was definitely haunted! It's sad your parents never took the sounds you heard seriously. A friend of mine actually had some "ghost hunter" people come and rid her home of ghosts. If it was just her who saw and heard them she would've thought she was crazy, but her children often ran into her bed during the night because they all saw and heard the ghosts. Three of them. All Children! Weird...