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by trowway21 3041 days ago
I take prescription stimulants for APD, audio processing disorder; whatever that actually is.. For me, I have difficulty hearing people talk and focusing when exposed to multiple or dynamic background noises.. Basically it's a failure of autonomous filtering or prioritizing of sounds.

I was on Belle Isle last year, two times, which is a few hundred meters from Windsor, and the sound was extremely soothing for whatever reason.. I spent days on end thinking and reaearching. I finally attributed the sound to some sort of tunnel boring machinery. There are a handful of salt mines in windsor, which i discovered after seeing more than the two tunnels I was aware of, between Detroit and Windsor, in the river, on Google Earth.

I am in the habit of identifying every sound that I am exposed to consistently, which I noticed when I bought a new house. After moving I diligently inspected my HVAC system, computer fans, appliances, which neighbors parked where, and how hard they slammed their doors, etc. Not only do I identify every sound, but I also actively recognize and consider every combination of sounds.(neighbor1.carDoorSlam sounds different when my furnace is on, or furnace+fridge compressor, for example.) Once I know for certain what a sound is, I can identify it immediately, and continue with my current activity knowing that it was just some irrelevant, petty routine happening.

I can't imagine enduring a sound like that for long, while knowing I am unable to identify it; I was able to convince myself that it was due to tunnel boring; but I seldom am reminded of the sound and never disturbed by it, since I don't live in the area..

1 comments

Were there any ships around? Last year I had vacation in Malta and I could barely sleep due to constant, low, barely noticeable noise. I have attributed it to the ship engines, as there were many of them around and couldn't find better explanation (tried to turn off every appliance and sleep in different room with no avail).