Do you like silence?

Yet another tinnitus sufferer here!
However I don't like to have background noise to drown it out (it doesn't anyway!)
As a teenager and into my 30s I always had background music on. Adults would say "How can you read with that noise going on?"
After I had my son quiet seemed such a rare quality I grew to crave it!
However it's never quiet in my head and I used to tell people that I needed to be distracted in order to concentrate - I finally got diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 66, which explains much of that, including sensitivity to noises - my mother used to take the battery out of the clock in the spare room when I visited because the ticking drove me mad. I also get irritated by noises that many other people don't even notice - clicking a pen on and off, a can rolling down the street in the wind, people eating (Ugh!), wood pigeons (such a boring "song"!), next door's dog barking ALL DAY if their owner is out at work, (that's how I can tell whether she is at home or not!)
I do love silence but don't get it often, now I find it harder to concentrate on what someone's saying if there's background noise - a concentration issue, not a hearing issue.
I hate it when people have the TV on in the background "just for company". I enjoy solitude - when I can get it!

My lovely weeny house, in its quiet suburban street and on a hill so there is little light pollution, is so quiet, and the garden so pretty with privacy, the silence is literally golden for me when I am well, despite tinnitus. But if I'm in a bad down it becomes oppressive, so next year I am going to hie me to a quiet flat with a view and gardens in a nice McCarthy and Stone place.

A scientist who'd been based at the South Pole told me he missed the silence, he said he'd never found silence since he'd left there. Quite sad really. I don't fancy the south pole much myself.

I rarely have noise on, even in the car, I drove 375miles to visit someone and never had the radio on.

Yes,I read a lot. I was an only child so quite used to silence . Not all the time, though.

I think a lot of people feel a similar tension — craving quiet but worrying it might make them overly sensitive to noise later. Silence can be comforting and restorative, especially if life has been hectic in the past, but it doesn’t have to mean cutting yourself off. You could treat it like a balance: enjoy moments of stillness when you need them, but also sprinkle in a bit of gentle background sound sometimes so you stay adaptable.

I just love peace and tranquility. I'm on my own a lot and I enjoy it. Perhaps it's because I was an only child though I did have a play pal for an afternoon every so often during school holidays. The only problem I have now is if something goes wrong!

I am in middle of a forest in Dordogne, in chateau. Silence and heat are absolute and wonderful. Montgolfieres early morning but little else. A dream

I love silence and seldom have the radio on just for the sake of background noise. If I’ve settled on the sofa either a book I might ask Alexa to eg shuffle songs by Simon and Garfunkel, or play my Shazam tracks on Spotify, but I only have the radio on for specific programmes. My AC are all grown and gone but in their houses the tv is on from waking until bedtime, as background noise, I hate it and think it’s bad for the GC too.

I’m always conscious of the hum from my very old fridge-freezer and if there is absolute silence - no hum -it’s often the first indication that there’s a power cut!

I have very poor hearing so, when I take my hearing aids out at night, I do have near silence. Except l don't because I have always, all my life, as far as I know, had a tune in my head. Otherwise, one of my great joys is to use the Bluetooth element of my hearing aids and listen to mostly classical music of my choice on Spotify or YouTube.

Sometimes I have music on when I’m doing house work but not always. I’m very happy with quiet times but I think if I lived on my own I would sometimes want a radio on in the background. I know what you mean about intolerance to the external world. We live in a very quiet rural area and when I have to go to a busy noisy environment I certainly feel quite stressed and am glad to get back home to peace and quiet!

missdeke

Many years ago wgilst in Australia I bought a tape called Bushland Dreaming, probably the most relaxing music I ever heard, wish I still had it.

Thank you so much for this. Beautiful music! I listened to it on YouTube as farview mentioned. The complete album is on iTunes so I shall be getting it.

I love silence early morning. I get up make a cup of tea and just sit there for a while. I have always done this since my children were young. I love it.

I love silence! Absolute bliss!

I would love some silence. I have had tinnitus all my remembered life, a high pitched noise above the left side of my head and recently a low electrical motor hum over my right shoulder.
Am I mis quoting " Remember what peace there may be in silence" ?

I love silence, the quieter the better!

I have no TV, radio or stereo system in my house, never have had, I'd find them all very distracting.

When working in shops and various eateries, most have had some sort of sound/vision thing going, and it drove me potty!

Go into most supermarkets/convenience stores and shopping centres, and in some cases, public loos, and there are stereos blaring out, and some restaurants.

Other than a bit of noise from outside, my flat is dead quiet all the time!

I am 50/50! When I am in garden reading I love the silence, no one wants me to anything(24/7 carer) however the radio can be on in the background and I am catching up on topics that I cannot access so I feel connected to the outside world. I have no patience with noise for noise sake!

It's very quiet next door now,but there was a time when the rows were constant .
When the children were in the garden it could deafening as they bounced up and down on their trampoline .
They used to have parties which went on for most of the night .
Now I can hear when the wife has returned-there's a short blast of anger ,followed by door slamming and her driving off .She often disappears for a few days .

I just feel sad for them .

In a way , living next to a recluse on the other side means peace and quiet 24/ 7 .
He's intent on selling his house and says that he did last Xmas .
I just hope that it isn't going to be a neighbour ,who plays pop music all day long and has a noisy family .
I don't mind sometimes - it's when it's every day that it becomes irritating .

alarm

valdavi

Silence is my natural world, as with my hearing loss I don't hear any sounds without hearing aids. And I'm not recommended to have a cochlear implant as when I have aids in, my speech perception is "good". (It's not, but relative to other people with my level of hearing loss it must be).
I don't usually have music / radio on as it takes so much of my concentration to follow it, it's too tiring & bluetooth isn't always reliable or easy to use, although wonderful when working. The silence doesn't bother me, unless I go out when I do feel threatened, so I won't leave the house without my aids in & working.

I totally emphasise this is really me, however I do wear my hearing aids from the minute I get up to the minute I go to bed or I would not hear the phone nor the doorbell or the firearm for that matter.

Stillness

I was just wondering how many of you do things with no background noise simultaneously? So perhaps crafts, or cooking, or housework etc…with no radio, music or tv …or anything else going on.
When I was younger, there wasn’t much silence, with family and a busy life etc. Now, there could easily be, but in an odd way, I really want it and yet I’m frightened of it. I do live a quietish life but I think I’m worried that if I get used to it, the external world will eventually become too much, leading to me being intolerant of any noise at all…if that makes sense..

I love peace and quiet, being a hearing aid user with new hearing aids again this morning, everything sounds like world war 3 when I am out and about, I never have music or the radio on at home, and have only started watching TV whilst having my meals this months after losing my partner 18 months ago and just did not feel ready for TV at all. I do a lot on volunteering (full-time) so am with people a lot also do a lot on line meetings. It is bliss for me to have silence. I also enjoy my own company immensely, and do not like have unexpected visitors at all. People at times think I am weird.

I love silence and when I’m home alone , I rarely have the tv or radio on . If I’m at the gym I don’t wear ear buds or headphones. I do listen to the radio in the car as it’s useful for traffic alerts . My DH hates silence and will always have the tv or radio on . If he’s doing jobs in the house or garden he’ll have the radio on and will turn the tv on and leave it on when he leaves the room . And because he rarely wears his hearing aids , he has the tv and radio on loud which drives me nuts .
I have a dog and have noticed more dog owners wearing earbuds when walking their dogs . I love listening to the birds and the wind in the trees .

I love the silence when Dh
eventually turns the tv off . He has it on loud and I breathe a sigh of relief when it goes off.

I love the silence of sitting in church before the mass begins

I love the silence at our seaside cottage with just the sea gently lapping and the chirp of the birds .

I like silence at home, but not all the time. I think my love of silence can be traced back to when we had an African Grey parrot - very entertaining, but VERY loud. My DH likes to have the radio on when he is in (both retired) but when he is out I sometimes wallow in the silence! In my car I like music unless I'm going somewhere unfamiliar, in which case I like silence while I concentrate on the roads. In the kitchen I will often watch catch-up on my iPad for an hour or so, but only if I'm sure I won't be interrupted, which drives me mad!!

farview

missdeke you can find Bushland dreaming on YouTube

Thank you I will look it up. Trouble is I won't have my laptop in my bedroom, I'd be too tempted to check emails etc.