How often do you wear earbuds/headphones/earmuffs?

[vergil96]

Since I realized that they work for me, I haven't really been venturing to shops or driving without them. I have noise-cancelling earbuds, but I ordered something else to try out too. They make me hear what people are saying better too, paradoxically. I realized that the noise makes me feel on edge, very often, and when wearing earbuds I breathe calmer and don't have as much of a problem with what I thought was ADHD, I don't feel agitated and make less careless hasty mistakes.

How often do you wear them? Is it occasional or pretty much all the time? How does it work for you?

 

[Judge]

Only when I need to indoors, and never in public.

Most often ear protectors when the landscapers use their leaf blowers and take their time on the job.

 

[Princess Viola]

If I'm in a situation where the noise levels around me are too high and are making me uncomfortable, I'm putting my earbuds or earplugs in.

Making myself feel comfortable in these situations are what's most important. I used to feel self-conscious about doing this but I realized that literally no one cares at all, a good chunk of people walk around wearing AirPods in public so let me use my earbuds or earplugs then.

I will wear my earbuds at home whenever I am watching or listening to stuff on my laptop because I do not want to be rude and make my grandpa hear whatever it is I'm listening to too.

 

[Rodafina]

I wear mine every day, but not all day. On and off throughout the day depending on what I am doing. Headphones or earbuds start to irritate me after more than an hour or so, so I don’t wear them longer than that at one time.

 

[Sunny1]

I normally have mine on 6-8 hours a day with Avicii's, "Fade into Darkness" on loop unless I am working with someone because it is good for focus for me.

 

[Gerontius]

I don't. My radio doesn't have headphones, my record collection is all stuck for windup phonograph duty, and I don't listen to music on my computer.

But I am in the process of making an electric pickup for 78s so I may be using a set of telegraph headphones for critical listening on that.

 

[Sypher37]

Depends where I am. But if I am out and about and have to go into the city, I have to wear AirPods as the noise from too many people is just sensory overload.

 

[WildCat]

Not over a long period of time. The earbuds I've used screw with my ears after a while, and I've got a killer pair of headphones that, even though the sound quality is stellar, will almost seal my ears off and do the same thing.

 

[MC1Rcat]

SInce in live in a big city, I wear either earbuds w/ or w/o music, or the Loop Quiet ear plugs, every time I leave the apartment. I always make sure I can hear through whatever I am wearing, for safety reasons and so I can hear someone speaking to me. Even if there is not a lot of outside noise that I would consider loud, I wear them because it cuts down on sensory stimulus and I am less tired when I get home. I also sometimes wear the ear plugs at home if the neighbors are loud or there is too much noise from outside. I cannot leave anything in all of the time though, because my ear canals start to get sore after awhile. I have a problem with noise cancelling headphones, etc because they work by creating constant pressure inside of the ear, and this sets off my vestibular migraine. As far as people noticing the ear buds goes, everyone here always has something in their ears, for music or the phone, so no one cares. Also, the Loop ear plugs do not stick out very much and are hard to notice.

 

[autism-and-autotune]

Only when I need to indoors, and never in public.

Most often ear protectors when the landscapers use their leaf blowers and take their time on the job.

Yes; it was once suggested to me that I wear earbuds or noise-canceling headphones to shop, or to my place of work, but ironically...I need my ears. I really don't like having my sensed hindered in any way.

 

[DragonKid♾]

I can’t really wear earplugs or earbuds because I don’t like the sensation of having something in my ear. I need to wear a pair of ear defenders that go over my ears if I want to block sounds. They go everywhere with me, to school, to restaurants, to the movies, to any event, stuff like that. At this point I’ve made them an accessory. I put cool stickers on them. Right now I have a metallic one-eyed cat, an ice cream sundae with a cat face, and a cute smiling rainbow. And I am definitely looking for more stickers:

 

[auslan434]

I have the Quiet ones from Loop.

They are life-changing for me.

I wear them when mowing the lawn, in a shopping centre, down the main street and during thunderstorms.

They are also washable. I carry them with me everywhere.

 

[Richelle-H]

I have an 80% hearing loss in both ears. Without my hearing aids, I am hopeless hearing anything with clarity. I experience sound as if from the bottom of a thick glass container lined with something to deaden any echo. Without my aids in, I have to ask people to repeat what they said far too often and if there is an accent involved.... Oh my!

Now, with them in, I have a number of options and volume levels available with the ability to sculpt the sound to the environment. Each aid is already tuned to bring my hearing back up to as normal as possible (between 80 and 90 percent at the mid range volume setting). I am able to adjust my hearing from practically deaf to an acuteness that allows me to hear things that can become a distraction when you are conversing with someone. It has a supplementary control that allows me to connect directly to my phone for calls and music. In a particularly difficult situation it can double as a directly connected microphone which I can hand to someone to allow me to hear them better (I have never had to do that as yet, but it is a convenient feature).

I dearly wish they could cancel my tinnitus. Unfortunately, that only gets louder when there is less noise or other sounds to draw my mental focus away from a multi-frequency distraction that exists in a range of sound that I cannot hear normally without my hearing aids. Somewhat annoying, that!

 

[Darkkin]

Ear buds with music every time I leave the house.

 

[georgiagalaxy]

Since I realized that they work for me, I haven't really been venturing to shops or driving without them. I have noise-cancelling earbuds, but I ordered something else to try out too. They make me hear what people are saying better too, paradoxically. I realized that the noise makes me feel on edge, very often, and when wearing earbuds I breathe calmer and don't have as much of a problem with what I thought was ADHD, I don't feel agitated and make less careless hasty mistakes.

How often do you wear them? Is it occasional or pretty much all the time? How does it work for you?

I find it most comfortable at home or when nobody's talking to me

 

[Luca]

Ear buds with music every time I leave the house.

Same here. Unless I am driving but then I play music out loud in the car. I have music on almost all the time, aside from when I’m in a store or something and I need to be aware of my surroundings, or if I’m with other people.
Other than that, I have music, Youtube videos, or white noise on almost 24/7.

 

[Progster]

Daily, ear plugs to sleep and headphones with music when going out.

 

[Bolletje]

I always wear my headphones when I leave the house by myself, unless I’m riding my bike. I have sensory-friendly earbuds from Loop which I plan to wear at work to make life a bit easier on the senses, but I haven’t been back to work since I purchased them.

 

[The Pandector]

Before knowing I’m autistic, my son was showing me some ridiculously expensive headphones he used to get himself through his regular air travel. When I put them on I was transported. I’ve always had ear problems and hearing issues the audiologist couldn’t address. When I first heard noise cancellation, it put me in a place I had never been.

Finally I bought a pair and life began a different direction. I had a place of clarity to which I could resort. Two years later my wife passed which led to a breakdown and self diagnosis. When I was investigating autism, I began to understand why my noise canceling headphones had such a profound impact.

I’ve recovered enough not to need them now, so they are more of an important tool, but they were, I believe, a critical component of my recovery.

I had always thought it would be nice if the world would just shut up for a while now and again. I was right.

 

[Storm Hess]

Just about everyday...even at home. Having 2 children and 2 teens (wife as well) all on the spectrum, it can get very overwhelming for me. I wear them quite a bit.