Noise sensitivity and BPD?

[Our abuse recovery guide]

I was just driving by a restaurant that I remember taking my unBPDm to a while back. It was NOT a successful experience!  The background noise at the restaurant, I guess, was merged with her inner self, and she became overwhelmed. The background together with the conversation was just too chaotic.

Come to think of it, she also can't handle quiet. In her house she usually has the radio and/or the tv on all the time. She invited herself to a Quaker meeting that I was going to attend several months ago --- I know, I shouldn't have let that happen (hindsight). For those who don't know, a Quaker meeting is a worship in the style of group silent meditation. Silent.  Mom couldn't be silent.  She would clear her throat - numerous times. She rustled around in her bag for a tissue - then a lifesaver that she clicked around in her mouth for the next... .I regress. You are probably laughing - as my daughter and I were hard-pressed to do at the time, after getting over the annoyance. I, needless to say, did not get what I needed from the Quaker meeting. Peace. Respite.

So, has anyone else noticed a noise sensitivity issue with BPDs?

lexialpha

[lexialpha]

I was just driving by a restaurant that I remember taking my unBPDm to a while back. It was NOT a successful experience!  The background noise at the restaurant, I guess, was merged with her inner self, and she became overwhelmed. The background together with the conversation was just too chaotic.

Come to think of it, she also can't handle quiet. In her house she usually has the radio and/or the tv on all the time. She invited herself to a Quaker meeting that I was going to attend several months ago --- I know, I shouldn't have let that happen (hindsight). For those who don't know, a Quaker meeting is a worship in the style of group silent meditation. Silent.  Mom couldn't be silent.  She would clear her throat - numerous times. She rustled around in her bag for a tissue - then a lifesaver that she clicked around in her mouth for the next... .I regress. You are probably laughing - as my daughter and I were hard-pressed to do at the time, after getting over the annoyance. I, needless to say, did not get what I needed from the Quaker meeting. Peace. Respite.

So, has anyone else noticed a noise sensitivity issue with BPDs?

lexialpha

[P.F.Change]

My mother doesn't like loud or chaotic-feeling places... .but then again, neither do I.

I get easily overwhelmed by noise, especially at my most tired times of day. I do not like to listen to people chewing (even with mouths closed), I hate to go to the movies when people are unwrapping candy and slurping soda and crunching popcorn. In the late afternoon/early evening, I need all the tvs to be off or at least be in a different room.

I also am a musician with pretty unusual tonal memory; I wouldn't quite go so far as to call it perfect pitch. But maybe I just have over-sensitive ears?

There was a particular chain restaurant that my mother always thought was too noisy. I figured it had more to do with her age than her BPD, but who knows.

PF

[Ankakusu]

I think my mother had a very specific noise sensitivity in which she couldn't handle silence OR noise from other people. She would get edgy if people were quiet (like, if we were all together and watching a movie, or if someone were in her vicinity and doing something that didn't involve her) and would start talking.

But she herself would fly out of her bedroom in a rage if one of us kids turned over in the night, let alone got up, because didn't we know she's an insomniac? What were we trying to DO to her?   As if we could ever forget... .She reacted that way to many noises not of her own making, or if somebody had the temerity to be talking while she was stressed out, or other things like that. Actually, it's weird, but right before I read this post I was just thinking about how she mentioned a few times that she used to yell at her sister, my enAunt, for breathing when they shared a room as children and it was time to sleep. EnAunt's breathing was so loud, see. Mother said kind of smirkingly that she knew she'd been mean, but she didn't seem terribly sorry about it, and always added something about poor her, never able to get a full night's sleep in her LIFE because of the noisy people BREATHING around her.   And this is regular breathing too... .

I actually have a lot of noise sensitivity, probably because of having to grow up with batlike hearing to anticipate rages, and also from being conditioned into thwarted fight-or-flight mode when I hear slamming pots or household appliances. But I also don't think the entire world has to cater to it.

[loti]

I do not like to listen to people chewing (even with mouths closed), I hate to go to the movies when people are unwrapping candy and slurping soda and crunching popcorn.

Same here.  I have to cover my ears.

[FinalLee]

My uBPDm is extremely sensitive to noise and it's one of her regular complaints and unhappiness-es about life that "Everyone seems to feel the need to speak loudly all the time."

Now that she's 81 she still complains about noise but also complains that "everyone mumbles" which I can't exactly figure out.

I do wonder if part of the BPD biology is hypersensitivity which might include some hypersensitive senses. She can also smell things no one else can smell;  you'd accuse her of hallucinating until you start smelling it yourself and it turns out she was right.

[sandpiper]

There is a lot of overlap in the symptoms of ptsd and BPD which is why so many of the experts believe that BPD is an extreme variation of ptsd. In one of the articles I read about it a few years ago, the author was pretty much saying that if PTSD exists on a spectrum then PTSD from a single trauma would be one thing, C-PTSD from multiple trauma (child abuse/torture victims etc) would be the next worse thing and then BPD has an even worse set of symptoms where they move into a state where they are beyond all rational behaviour.

Heightened sensitivity to sensory input (smell, taste, touch etc) is due to the increase in adrenalin that comes with the PTSD anxiety and if you think about it, it makes sense - when in danger, your body needs all the extra input from your senses in order to give you as much information as you need to protect you from the danger. And then it adds speed to your muscles so that after you've heard/seen/smelled the werewolf coming after you, you can then run like hell.

In real life that translates to constant tension in your musculoskeletal system so BPD & PTSD tends to both have a lot of pain and muscle tension.

I saw a study on Vietnam Vets and how it's been discovered that they have a heightened sense of smell. The researchers thought it was because the olfactory centre in the brain is close to the emotional centre so that association may be due to proximity - if the same chemicals (adrenalin) are stimulating the emotional centre & the nose-brain is right beside it, then your sense of smell will have heightened power.

I have super-smell, as does another friend with PTSD. DH says that if ever the sniffer dogs at the airport need a sick day, the Customs officers should call the pair of us in to take their place.    Friends have summoned me to their homes in the past to identify the source of bad smells (dead possum under the house, rat in the wall, disgusting remnants of food secreted in living quarters by a toddler) - heh heh - so at least I've learned to use my powers for good. We live in bushfire country and it is amazing how quickly I can detect the smoke from a bushfire before anyone else.

I hate noise, as does Evilsis and as did uBPDad.

My T said that with me, it's because I am high up on the introvert scale and all introverts hate noise and find it exhausting. She said that when you add the introvert factor to the PTSD increased sensory sensitivity, that's why I REALLY hate loud noises. I've been assessed as being 'recovered' from the PTSD but even so I still hate noise. Especially the noise of my alcoholic neighbour yelling at her children.   

Since BPDs feel everything at an extreme and they seem to run on adrenalin, I'd put the sensitivity down to this - sensory overload due to all the adrenalin running around their systems.

As for the inability to meditate - Evilsis introduced me to meditation so that's not one of her issues. It is common with anxiety, though, for people to feel very uncomfortable 'sitting with themselves' which is an expression that a lot of yoga teachers use to describe the inward nature of meditation. You need to feel comfortable with yourself and who you are in order to sit quietly with your thoughts & that's probably not possible for someone with severe anxiety or BPD.

[GeekyGirl]

I do not like to listen to people chewing (even with mouths closed), I hate to go to the movies when people are unwrapping candy and slurping soda and crunching popcorn.

Same here.  I have to cover my ears.

Me too. The sound of crunching ice is particularly aggravating. I just about lose my mind when I hear someone crunching ice. I always thought that it was related to my fear of the dentist and/or breaking teeth, but now I'm wondering if there's some sort of BPD connection.

[AppleChippy]

Oh heavens, I am so sensitive to noise.

Did you know there's even a name for it: misophonia

www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/health/06annoy.html?_r=2&ref=science

[Jenk]

I find it sadly ironic that someone with BPD can be so sensitive to noise and, yet, could/can scream bloody murder for an hour (or more) when the mood strikes. It's as if they have no awareness of their intense--and frightening--volume level when it's directed outward at someone else.

My uBPDm was always reminding me to "keep [my] voice down" when my en-dad was sleeping on the weekends. But she sure as hell didn't think of my sleep needs when I'd be awakened to the sound of her screaming horrible things at my en-dad.

Apparently, BPDp can tolerate the sound of their own voice.

Oh heavens, I am so sensitive to noise.

I, too, am quite sensitive to noise nowadays--which is a HUGE reason why I don't have children. I know that parenthood would be a terrible struggle for me, especially having to tolerate certain amounts of noise that are considered normal. Even my cat meowing at me can grate on my nerves in a rather short period of time.

I can thank both of my parents for my noise aversion. There was no escaping my uBPDm's voice/volume when she was in a rage, and my en-dad always complained about any loud and/or repetitive noise. (Ironically, he never really spoke out about Mother's loud/repetitive noise. Heh.)


Jenk

[FinalLee]

Interesting information, saNPDiper. That makes a lot of sense to me.

Are you suggesting that BPDs are constantly in a state of adreniline rush?

I too find it ironic, Jenk, that they can scream like banshees when they feel

Ike it, but God forbid anyone else get even the least bit loud. I actually got instructions this past Sunday about how I should speak in a "just right" volume which isn't too loud but where I'm not "mumbling".   

[P.F.Change]

I really appreciate your post, too, saNPDiper.

I remember reading something about the hyper-alertness angle in one of the many books I read when I was discovering BPD... .I can't remember which, possibly Understanding the Borderline Mother? I will have to go back and see if I can find that.

I definitely carry a lot of physical tension, even when I think I feel relaxed otherwise, I will notice my shoulders are actually very tight. I had a wonderful massage one time, better than any other, where I actually started crying in the middle of it because something emotional got released when she was working on my shoulders. I felt a rush of gentle love and safety at that moment when my muscles finally relaxed... .it was so unexpected. It has made me think about getting regular acupuncture or acupressure treatments.

PF

[sea_owl]

Oh boy, yes.  I couldn't go in my closet at night without getting told how I was keeping her up at night.  (My closet backed up to her room.)  I had sleepovers, but they were near-impossible.   

On the other hand, she had the TV going while she slept half the time.  *scratches head*  Go figure.  And it was always on during the day in every room she was in.  And she was watching it when she wasn't talking to someone on the phone.  And every time she talked, we'd be like, "Geez, Mom, you don't have to talk so loud," because she talked so loud even when she wasn't yelling.  And then she'd scream at us, and sometimes she'd even scream at us while she was vacuuming. 

Me personally, I have a lot of noise sensitivity too and a really great sense of hearing.  It was great as an early warning system for Mother.  But what I don't get is how I could possibly have such great hearing when I would've sworn to you I was losing my hearing from Mother yelling all the time. 

[lexialpha]

ya know... .sea_owl... .I had forgotten that my unBPDm sleeps with the TV on too. And she has sleep problems... .getting up at around 4 often.

My sis speaks too loudly even today, but I think that she developed that as a mechanism to hold Mom's attention 'cause she gets distracted so easily.

And WOW! going to a movie theater with her is VERY embarrassing! She talks throughout the whole thing, and gets miffed if you suggest that she keep her voice down. She doesn't know how to whisper. I mean really, doesn't know how.  She thinks that whispering is like the breathy voice that a person uses when they have laryngitis that doesn't use the vocal chords. That's still pretty LOUD in a movie theater!

I've tried to gather for a program or video at home, but she gets bored easily and can't follow the story. Often she'll just fall asleep.

lexialpha

[Sasha026]

This is a very interesting topic because I had the same problem with my mother. The "ears" thing. She was always fretting about her ears. She could never get water in her ears - drove her nuts. And, she always pretended that she couldn't hear me. She could hear me alright because I gave it a test. I spoke really low about something while she was out of the room and she heard every word perfectly. It was probably something about me giving her money - that - she heard!

She was so convinced that she was going deaf that she even went out and bought an $800 Miracle Ear (that she broke and I paid for) because she kept saying that she couldn't hear. I know that as we age, some hearing difficulties happen but my mother over did everything. She also wore two sets of glasses to read until she had her eyes fixed.

Lexiapha nailed it with the constant conversation and noise that was going on in her head! My mother also hated loud noise ("I thought you were going deaf?". Good post by saNPDiper, as well. Very interesting.

[LightBulbIsOn]

My uBPDm slept through Twister at the movie theater but flew into a rage one time when I set my curling iron down on the countertop in the bathroom.  I'll never forget she came flying in all bat$hit crazy looking, grabbed a towel, slammed the curling iron down on the towel and screeched "BEEEEEE QUIET! WE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP".  Um... .really? Because the whole entire neighborhood could hear her ranting. 

This topic is fascinating to me.  I also have a super sniffer and excellent hearing. 

[Gowest]

Actually, it's weird, but right before I read this post I was just thinking about how she mentioned a few times that she used to yell at her sister, my enAunt, for breathing when they shared a room as children and it was time to sleep. EnAunt's breathing was so loud, see. Mother said kind of smirkingly that she knew she'd been mean, but she didn't seem terribly sorry about it, and always added something about poor her, never able to get a full night's sleep in her LIFE because of the noisy people BREATHING around her.   And this is regular breathing too... .

My mom always says that I am the one who can't stand the sound of other people breathing. Only recently have I wondered if that's not her too.

I do hate it if I sit next to someone who breathes noisily. Or chews noisily. Or is just somehow noisy all the time. My brother is one of these people. I'm pretty sure it's a sign of narcissism. Some people just appear to be incapable of considering how their noise could affect other people. I'm taking a class now and one of the other students sets my teeth on edge. He's just so. noisy. If he walks across the room, he's got to STOMP so the whole floor shakes. He'll randomly bang his hand on the desk a few times, then play with his phone which makes noises and clicky sounds (while the teacher is talking, mind, not during the break). Once after the break he kept singing to himself and swinging his head around (again, while the class was in progress). This is exactly like my brother. A being of pure inconsideration. Those are just the worst examples, he's pretty much always doing something I find irritating. It's not like the other students never leave during class, or you know, change position or fidget but they somehow manage to do it without making me want to choke them.

I thought I was just being "too sensitive" but I went out with another girl from the class and she was the one who brought up how freaking weird this guy is. Validation! She also said that she was surprised that I even noticed because I always seem so calm. (!) That's what got me really wondering about what it is, because it's definitely something. I've always felt that my brother's noise was a way of saying "HERE I AM PAY ATTENTION TO ME I'M HERE" with a side of "everything I do is good and you should love being exposed to my noise".

I do know that my mom loves my brother's noise, and if he's doing something that is particularly grating she'll sit there and smirk. I don't know what she thinks about my noise because I never make noise. She always insisted it was fine, but... .I don't like to make noise.

[js friend]

My dd17 hates the sound of people breathing too and always mentions how heavy I breath and will say things sarcastically like... ."Have you been running? or say" why are you out of breath?" or imply that Iam breathing heavy because Iam unfit although no one other than her has ever said anything about my breathing. She Also hates the sound of chewing food especially if it is something like an apple where the juices really get flowing.  It really drives her crazy and she has to leave the room.She  hates flashes on cameras... .and from a very early age would say that the flash was too bright and hurts her eyes. She hates the sound of people scraping the last bits of food off their plate or a dish and will give them a dirty look, and hates the sound of clocks ticking. She used to have a small alarm clock in her bedroom but complained that the ticking was keeping her awake... .This from someone who often doesnt fall asleep until 4am most mornings.!  So its no wonder she walks around listenin to her ipod most of the time!

I hate the sound of people clipping their fingernails, together with the thought that most just let them fly everywhere  

[Dorian L.]

It's interesting to see how we all have such similar experiences!

The same goes for uBPDm. She says she HATES loud noises, but she has no problem screaming and ranting at the top of her voice for several hours. She also slams doors, objects, and turns up the TV way too loud. I was raged at by her in the middle of the night because my door creaked. If I did so much as put a glass a fraction too loudly she would pounce on me and demand an explanation why I was "throwing a tantrum" and why I was "deliberately attacking" her with that sound.

SaNPDiper - It's interesting you point it out about the correlation with PTSD and BPD! I have C-PTSD, looking back at the times when I was in an abusive r/s with uNPDx, I felt myself going to the extreme end, I realized I was starting to act the same way as my uBPDm and getting increasingly irrational. Thankfully, I realized something was messed up and got out of that relationship.

[Empire81842]

Fantastic thread! uBPDm was/is HIGHLY sensitive to noise. Growing up she was constantly (loudly) yelling at both me and enDad to be quiet. Lower our voices (even though she was loud), stop making noise with the food (when it was just normal eating), stop making noise, period. She also has a hyper-sense of smell which she says she developed after I was born (blaming me?) So she also despised smells of things, like for example she bought me an iced tea once and after about 5 minutes started complaining at me: "Aren't you DONE with that yet? It smells and I'm sick of hearing you sucking on it." Mixed signals to the extreme.

I remember the first time BF and I took a car trip, we stopped for coffee one morning and I nursed mine for a while (as I prefer to do with hot beverages).  I realized after about 20 minutes that I felt very tense, and it clicked in my mind that I was waiting for him to yell at me to stop drinking it because it smelled or was loud or just generally annoying. When he didn't, it was a wonderful realization that I was just tense from conditioning.

After that I came to realize that a lot of my tension and fear of smells and loud noises was mostly from conditioning; waiting for her to yell about something.

However, I DO genuinely hate the sound of chewing and crunching. I see on this thread that a lot of us who had BPDp do! I wonder what about it that is? Is it PTSD? I no longer fear that she is going to yell at me, but I still find the sound makes me cringe. Cereal, candy, and especially ice chewing is the worst. Also open-mouthed lip-smacking.

I also have a pretty good sense of smell, which I never thought might be a PTSD symptom, and it doesn't bother me. I actually like it. For example, we have pets and it comes in handy making sure our home smells nice, if for no one but us!

[isilme]

My mom would have the TV going all hours of the day, but if I had my clock radio on its lowest setting, I was keeping her up.  If I had the TV on downstairs, she could hear it, and if I made any noise while playing, I was in trouble.  I learned ways to walk silently around the house, which stairs to skip so they wouldn't squeak, how to unlock and open the front door when coming home from school so she wouldn't wake up.  From the age of 8, I trained myself to wake up to the static sound of my alarm trying to sound, but the volume was so low all you'd hear was a faint, "pop" and I'd be awake and silently dressing myself for school, and leaving as quietly as I could.  Frankly, with the amount of sleeping pills she took, narcotic grade, I have no idea how she could hear anything. 

On weekends when I could stay up late (who am I kidding?  They stopped keeping up with my bedtime unless I made noise by 3rd grade) Dad would forever come stomping down the stairs to yell at me for making too much noise - so I got in the habit of watching TV on its lowest volume setting so I could hear it if I sat really close.  In high school, since dad bought me one pair of contact lenses but no glasses, I'd sit right up by the screen of the TV, with it turned all the way down, just to be free to watch at least one show I liked after Dad and Stepmom had gone to bed.

So I have a bit of a fear of loud noises much of the time.  I hate loud TVs, or TVs on when no one is watching them.  Music is okay, but I can't have it loud too often, or only when I am alone in the house.  The minute BF gets home I turn it all down.  Also, if anyone is asleep I feel fearful of waking them. 

I was driving with my mom once while I was still in college, and I had a tape playing in the car, and a singer irritated her and she, without asking, slapped the radio and told it to just shut up, and turned off my cassette.  That was the first time it hit me that she was just plain rude about it. 

[FinalLee]

My mom would have the TV going all hours of the day, but if I had my clock radio on its lowest setting, I was keeping her up.  If I had the TV on downstairs, she could hear it, and if I made any noise while playing, I was in trouble. 

This is familiar. "Any noise that is not generated by me is not permitted." It feels like "How DARE you exist!" sometimes.

[Ankakusu]

However, I DO genuinely hate the sound of chewing and crunching. I see on this thread that a lot of us who had BPDp do! I wonder what about it that is? Is it PTSD? I no longer fear that she is going to yell at me, but I still find the sound makes me cringe. Cereal, candy, and especially ice chewing is the worst. Also open-mouthed lip-smacking.

Me too! I decided long ago I would never shame anybody else for doing it, but it drives me crazy! I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because mother did it all the time herself but would mock/degrade/yell at others (mainly me) for doing it, so I got used to eating and doing a lot of other things (walking, crying, etc.) noiselessly or almost noiselessly, and sometimes if other people eat or drink noisily I feel a little flash of automatic disgust--like, *I* trained myself not to do that, why can't you? Even though I know intellectually that that's not fair.

And also hearing mother crunch food and slurp tea and make this voiceless "aaah" noise after swallowing anything--after mocking me for doing the same thing--would drive me batsh!t; it was like, she hated this thing in me, so I got the idea that this kind of action was worthy of hatred, and then when I saw HER being inconsistent and doing it herself, I hated her with a vengeance because I now had a more "acceptable," less frightening reason to hate her (rather than hating her for the fact that she hated me and wanted me gone or destroyed) and I was now "allowed" to hate her, at least in this small way.

And then there's the PTSD aspect of it (thanks everybody who mentioned that!). I hear loud noises (mostly clattering dishes) and I want to go hide, or yell at DH, or both. I usually just go in the other room and fold laundry or whatever until he's done. I don't even want to explain it to him because I don't want him walking on eggshells around me (oy!). I could also never study or write papers in a room with any noise. A lot of people have told me things like "well, *I* grew up in a crowded, noisy house, and you get used to it if you have to," but it's more than that. I also grew up in a crowded, noisy house, but the noise in mine always meant DANGER. Or at the very least "pay attention to me because if you don't there will be DANGER." 

I have to really work at undoing this warped upbringing and not being scornful of other people for just existing all innocently as if their parents didn't want to erase them (because in most cases they didn't). But I still really liked studying in countries where you can't bring food or drink to class (no more slurping and crackling when I'm trying to concentrate on what the teacher is saying, yay!), and it drove me up the wall recently when DH (who is loud and/or impulsive in whatever he does--clattering dishes, stepping right into dog sh!t without keeping a hypervigilant eye on the sidewalk, accidentally breaking things because of his strength) had a cold and was slurping tea and sort of snorfling oranges one after another. But like I said, I know this is me, not him (or anyone else who does this, because it's normal, and my doing everything silently isn't) and I'm putting as much effort as I can into accepting noisy eating and other things in myself and in others, to an appropriate degree (because sometimes it IS just annoying and rude and inconsiderate).

[isilme]

I hear loud noises (mostly clattering dishes) and I want to go hide

I never thought of this as PTSD.  I guess that makes a lot of sense, though.  I think many of my 'fleas' might be PTSD reactions to a lot of things, but I'd relegated PTSD to something that only combat veterans or people who'd had terrible experiences like assault, robbery and rape could have.  For decades I have downplayed everything at home - knowing rationally it was often wrong, but not how badly, and not how much.  Even things that 'weren't so bad' really, really were in their own way.

I never equated how I grew up to being in that category, and it makes me sad to realize that it DOES belong there.  I think this is a bog part of my current state of depression - realizing my parents were supposed to protect me, but instead hurt me so badly I respond to normal things in a fight-or-flight manner. 

I know were are discussing noises, but what about smells?  Both Mom and my uBPDBF are very easily offended by smells, no matter what.  BF hates most cleaning solutions, no matter how much I tell him some things really can only be cleaned with bleach or other strong smelling agents.  I wait till he's gone and clean, and then have the windows open if possible. Mom hated perfume counters, cigarette smoke, anything that smelled strongly (can't blame her about the smoking, I'm not fond of it, either).

[Yamo]

Lol ,this rings a bell a girl I'm sure is BPD / npd I had online contact with for four months calls her sensitivity to noise ,smell etc her ,super scent ,,,curiouser and curiouser .

[Perdita]

My BPD bf is very noise sensitive. He is also easily irritated to the extreme. I am not sure if that perhaps is what's really behind the noise sensitivity.  Sometimes he is fine with noise. The more irritated he is the crazier he reacts to the slightest sound. I have wondered how much of this is simply manipulation because it sure happens every time I start asking questions he doesn't want me to.

Another thing is that he always uses the excuse of being hungry when he gets irritated and noise sensitive. He will think nothing of shouting insults to complete strangers and over the biggest load of nonsense when he feels they are somehow in his way or too slow.  It is so embarrassing and I hate havinf to apologise to strangers as he simply carries on walking and being a jerk to everyone.

[SlyQQ]

Yes noise sensitivity , and chewing,

But i saw once an apparently super human effort at hearing a conversation once when admitting Sd to hospital,

she was manic and it might have heightened her senses or she was a very good guesser,

[No-One]

Just adding a point of view regarding noise sensitivity. I don't think it necessarily is indicative of BPD, but of some of the co-morbid conditions that people with BPD tend to have.

I can see that it's hard to understand how some noises annoy someone, while other noises can serve as a sort of background filter to appease them.  Individual brain wiring and chemistry can come into play.

Since BPD rarely stands alone, and there are co-morbid conditions, I'm thinking some of those co-morbid conditions come into play: ADHD, Autism spectrum, PTSD from military service, anxiety, bipolar, etc.

Sometime, a need to control could come into play; but it can, also, be that when someone loses control of their emotions, everything irritates them. 

Just sharing the info. below, from the noted website. 

Generally, the following represent hypersensitivity to noise. Remember, your experience may be different than others:

Noise Triggers
Some people develop a sensitivity to particular sounds. Often these sounds are related to a past trauma or a recurring cause of anxiety. This type of sensitivity is related to conditioning, where your mind immediately associates a sound with some negative feeling or experience. It is very common in those with PTSD but may affect people with all types of anxiety.

Quick Startle Reflex
Anxiety is also your body on high alert. The more stress and anxiety you experience, the more you create a higher natural baseline of stress inside you. If that anxiety level gets too high, you'll be more prone to startling, because your body will be quicker to reach the startle phase of stress.

Irritation
Anxiety causes immense irritation. That irritation makes people more likely to experience a rush of negative emotions when they hear noises or sounds that disrupt their thoughts. Silence is considered peaceful, so disruptions in that silence may trigger irritability.

Stress Related Tension
Finally, when you're feeling anxious, it can cause pressures in your body that may make you more prone to certain noises. These sounds may contribute to further tension headaches or a feeling of unease that you have during an anxiety attack. In some cases, this may even make the noises sound louder than before.All of these fall under the heading of noise sensitivity, because they are all related to the way that you and your body react to these noises.It's also important to remember that you can experience this sensitivity even when you don't feel anxiety or anxious thoughts. Anxiety is a physical experience as well, and you may be tense even when you feel relaxed and calm, leading to noise reactions.