I usually listen to my wall clock tick whilst going to sleep to help me nod off and I focused on something else (didn’t make any other sounds that could’ve interfered) and it felt like there was a bigger gap to the first tick compared to the rest, which from my layman’s knowledge is similar to saccadic masking, but from what I know that’s to do with rapid eye movement and your brain applying what you first see to the past second or so and nothing to do with anything audio related so I’m just curious.
By falling and dropping my turret while holding shift I masked my dropping sound and was able to push the omen :)
EDIT: Holy thanks, guys :) made my day reading the comments <3
https://reddit.com/link/kz0h48/video/ra1g4x13ytb61/player
It's worth mentioning that I (21F) am not diagnosed but honestly it doesn't really matter because I am 100% sure my parents wouldn't accept a diagnosis anyway. In short, they hear "autism" and think someone severely handicapped and probably wheelchair bound. But I feel very confident that I am on the spectrum, after years of research.
I have always been very sensitive to sound. It makes my head feel buzzy (I don't know how else to describe it lmao) and I can't think straight. I vividly remember being about 6 years old and sobbing at my brother's band concert because it was too loud and my dad got pissed and snapped, "it's music!" Fireworks, parades, any public event with music and lots of people talking, etc have also always been exhausting. Public things like that, I have learned to suck it up.
But I finally stopped masking around the house. I no longer suffer through the vacuum cleaner, food processor, chainsaw, weed whacker, or anything else without headphones/earplugs, despite it annoying my dad. Well, I guess I finally won out because he said he wanted to teach me to use the chainsaw and I was like "as long as I can wear headphones" and he said "yep." He also brought up me wearing headphones if I need to when he showed me how to use the lawnmower as well, without me even mentioning it. Before, he'd just be like "itS nOt tHat loUd."
Dishes clattering also really sends me over the edge, I f*cking hate that sound and my mom goes HAM on the dishes. She now warns me so I can cover my ears or leave the room before she starts messing around with them.
I am gonna have to get over some of this eventually since I want to be an EMT and that will put me in noisy situations, obviously. But I'm glad I no longer have to sacrifice my comfort at home. It has made me a lot more capable too, since I used to just avoid noisy things since I didn't feel comfortable covering my ears.
Just an idea I got after remembering the Sniper Elite series, Sound Masking might be an interesting way of doing stealth missions in your games. Sound Masking in SE is generally a loud sound occurring in the environment that can be used to mask the sounds of the sniper rifle the player shoots, allowing them to get a shot off with none the wiser (like a plane flying overhead giving you a few moments to shoot a "soundless" bullet).
I thought this would make stealth missions in DnD more interesting, as the PCs might directly confront enemies, with only a few rounds covering the combat until they are heard and noticed.
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A portal to the Abyss is open farther down the hallway, the sounds of screaming emanating from it for about 30 seconds before cutting short after receiving a living sacrifice, re-continuing moments after. The PCs take advantage of the screaming to confront a number of guards, getting 5 rounds to avoid drawing the attention of the cultists a few rooms over.
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The hundreds of pickaxes hitting stone from the Duergar's slaves is a constant. The PCs are noticed by a Golem, and in order to keep themselves quiet, might take a decrease to their rolls as they hit at the same time as the pickaxes.
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Yet another loud echo from the portable rams ram into the door of the Church of Lathander as the Hobgoblins seek to enter. The PCs prefer taking the ones in the background first, and have 1d4+1 rounds where their noises are masked by the loud banging.
I bought a pair of Bose sleepbuds a while back and have been listening to the Warm Sand sound on the highest volume and I can still hear trucks that pass by, cars with those loud/deep muffler sounds and any car with bass. I dont usually get on very well with sounds that have a lot of 'movement' for lack of a better description. A static sound (meaning doesnt differ much from one tone) works better for me. The sounds that go up and down I tend to focus on the loop. Any suggestions for low frequency masking sounds? Thank you!!
All the sounds I’ve been using to help me sleep are suddenly warping to mimic my new tinnitus. In fact, many sounds are suddenly warping. What is this phenomenon called?
So, for example, right now I’m listening to rain from a white noise app. Instead of the previously crisp, clear sounds of soothing rain, it’s got a mechanical whine to it! The distortion is so loud and grating, it woke me up from a deep sleep.
Trying to watch a movie yesterday, the musical score kept turning into a tea kettle sound.
Even the shower distorts when I put my head under it.
This is all just in the past 24 hours, but my tinnitus suddenly spiked three weeks ago after four years of fairly manageable ringing in one ear. The tones are constantly changing, making it impossible to get oriented. I don’t want to be dramatic about it, but these ambient sounds were saving my life. They were like a brain massage.
What if voices start distorting next? I feel like my reality is under attack. I can’t tell what’s “real” noise anymore and what’s in my head.
Hey! I'm a musician and tinnitus and have created some sound therapy tracks to help me work. I got some great feedback from this sub on the last batch of tracks I made so I thought I would share my most recent ones. Let me know if you have any advice on how I might improve them.
Tracks:
https://youtu.be/1DlaaqR-V0I (High)
https://youtu.be/Ae8vJP-x0zo (Higher)
https://youtu.be/iR2MTl2PczE (Highest)
https://open.spotify.com/album/6wpWOMfpq242ZEn4jTaOAh?si=S9mWsW0qQ_23ObAvrZ6NqA
I know I’ve got to learn social lessons for myself, but I’m 30 and I’m still trying so hard.
Why is it when I’m not masking and trying to be myself I sound like a douchebag and hurt people’s feelings?
Should I print some f*cking teeshirts with a printed disclaimer on the front?
I feel like this isn’t an entirely bad idea.
I have acoustic trauma so Im trying to give my ears a rest. I normally keep the fan on in my room which provides about 40db of "white noise" or gentle noise. I'm very worried about my hearing, so I realize this is going to extremes, but I don't want to take any chances. So I turned the fan off to protect my ears even from that very insignificant amount of noise. However, now that the fan is off, I can hear other things much more clearly like bird chirps outside, my flip flops as I walk around my room, my typing on the keyboard, people talking outside etc.
My question is (and I'll try to word this in different ways so it's easier to understand what I mean)......because these are different types of sound, can a noise like a fan actually protect our ears from hearing the more high-pitched sounds like bird chirps? Or is the ear actually exposed to BOTH the fan and the bird chirp, making things worse? I can't hear the bird chirp at all when fan is on, but are the sensitive hairs in my ear still exposed to the bird chirps sound if the fan is on? Do the bird chirp and fan add DOUBLE the noise (just in different frequencies since one is higher pitched and is this all about my perception of noise rather than being about what my ears are physically hearing)? Or do my ears only pick up the fan noise, which is a gentler type of noise than the bird chirps? Does the fan serve as a buffer between my ears and other, harsher sounds? In other words, if I can't hear the bird chirp while the fan is on, are the hairs in my ears even exposed to the chirp still?
edit:
I appreciate the responses. Just a disclaimer: I realize how ridiculous going to extremes may be, but I can't help but wonder if sounds that are known for being completely harmless to healthy cochlea hair cells (i.e. 40db for 6 hours) may interfere with the recovery process. I just wondered, that if these cells are in some type of recovery phase, could this recovery then be interrupted by their role in having to process sound at the same time? Does their job in processing sound then divert resources and energy away from recovering? (Just explaining my reasoning, not looking for answers on this as it isn't my main question and I don't think this has ever been studied). As serious as hearing loss is, I'd rather go to extremes as it doesn't take much away from me to do so, and I can't find any studies to address this scenario. It just seems that it might be prudent to go to extremes for a few days or weeks to avo
I just thought I would let you guys know about an incredible video (10 hours long) that I found that helps me, and I am sure it will help many others. What's great about it, is not only the high frequency covers my high pitched tinnitus, but the sweeping effect also lulls the mind into falling asleep.
The comments section is full of people saying this is the best sound masking they've ever found, so I hope it also helps you.
Apparently, you can also purchase the MP3 from the guy's website (he's a sound engineer) if you like it enough for a dollar or so. Or even buy a CD if you're so inclined. I'll be buying the MP3, but you can obviously listen to it for free on youtube.
The first video is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwCxVSf6WnE
Another video by the same guy that is also good is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVwei9GcqwI
He has plenty of others available too.
It's really great. Please check it out. I can't believe I never found this before.
Be careful if you're wearing headphones right now, as it is quite loud. Please turn your master volume and/or youtube volume all the way down before starting it, and slowly turn it up. Just be careful is all.
So, regarding the recent controversy about white noises doing some long-term damage on tinittus or not, i wanted to ask if it's ok to resort to cricket sounds for my masking.
I never play the masking sounds on more than 25-30% volume since i have mild tinnitus. Do you think i'm gonna have a problem long-term?
