[uudecoded]

My list of seven things I wish I would not hear as an autist:

1. Loud refrigerators / appliances / computer fans

2. ICE engines with mechanical problems / modified exhaust

3. Smoke alarm replace-battery beeping

4. Noisy airflow (bad air gaps / glass insulation) in vehicles and rooms

5. Bad electric noise (bad AC/DC converters)

6. Emergency vehicle sirens that are too loud (I think this is a US phenomenon)

7. Television commercials that increase in volume over ordinary programming

I'm sure there are many more out there

[rufus_foreman]

>> Television commercials that increase in volume over ordinary programming

These are banned at the federal level in the US. If you hear them, the FCC wants to know about it: https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/loud-commercials-tv.

[yjftsjthsd-h]

Anyone happen to know what format(s) that applies to? The page you linked says

> If you watched the commercial on pay TV (cable or satellite) or if you watched it on a broadcast station

so I'm assuming not just OTA TV, but ex. what about YouTube ads?

[tommiegannert]

> 3. Smoke alarm replace-battery beeping

I swear the battery runs out more often at night than day. My wife sleeps through it, I become wide awake after the first beep. The beeps are 38s apart, so it takes a while to locate which one is bad.

I'm currently designing an add-on circuit for the MCP145010 chip to start blinking the LED before the darn beep.

8. As my dad was emptying the last drops of yoghurt from the Tetra Brick at breakfast, he used to tap it incessantly at the bottom. I had to ask him to stop every time. Breakfast!

9. Tea sieve against cup. Nails tapping on a cell phone screen.

[drewcoo]

The shopping malls with all of the crowd noise and disorientingly bouncy sounds.

Some fabric noises. Not just parachute pants, but those, too.

The high-pitched whine of tube televisions.

A certain hallway in a building where I worked that had thick acoustic tile along only one wall, allowing us to only hear from one ear as we walked through it.

These are some of the things that annoyed/nauseated me but no one else I knew.

[cassianoleal]

> 2. ICE engines with mechanical problems / modified exhaust

Ah the dickheads with pierced mufflers... That and low cc motorbikes.

> 3. Smoke alarm replace-battery beeping

How the hell has anyone ever thought that was a good idea? I had one beeping in the middle of the night, without access to another batter, and I couldn't make it stop. I had a very long next day and needed the rest I couldn't get. I did manage to turn it off eventually but not without it completely disrupting my sleep. I had a terrible few days after that, and because of my tiredness I only remembered about the missing battery over a week later.

> 6. Emergency vehicle sirens that are too loud (I think this is a US phenomenon)

London and the UK are the worst offenders I've seen. Not only they're absurdly loud, but the frequencies they use pierce right through my brain and my chest. I can't count the number of times I nearly jumped off my bike in the middle of the road because of a sudden siren of a police car or an ambulance. Mostly I just completely freeze for a few seconds with my entire body tensed up.

> 7. Television commercials that increase in volume over ordinary programming

Agree. Not only ads but excessive volume dynamics in general.

Not that I disagree with the others but they bother me less than these.

[xnx]

> 2. ICE engines with mechanical problems / modified exhaust

Every two-stroke engine (e.g. leaf blowers) is unnecessarily loud

[Sohcahtoa82]

Anybody running a leaf blower before noon is an asshole. Running one at 8 AM should be a crime punished by having a leaf blower get turned on in their bedroom whenever they try to sleep.