| So for me, what happens is that out of paranoia I will end up attributing meaningful words and conversations to ambient sounds when I'm under the influence of a certain substance. This substance also ramps up my paranoia. Its something that many people disapprove of and on top of that using it creates a very potent smell that essentially broadcasts its use to everyone in the area. And so out of paranoia I anticipate people in the distance are discussing my activity and complaining about it. On top of this now I have a greatly enhanced sense of hearing so lots of low level ambient sounds become much more noticeable. All this blurs the line between ambient noise and distant muffled conversations. And so because of my heightened paranoia, my mind subconsciously starts filling in the gaps with what I think theses people are discussing. Even knowing all this, it still feels very real. But now I can recognize its happening because whoever I "hear" complaining has a very rhythmic cadence to every sentence they speak - mirroring the repetitive nature of ambient noise. So the solution for me is to put on headphones and blast music in these circumstances where I would otherwise be tormented by ambient noise. |