I can't tone out background noise?

[Drummer Ben]

Before I go into my issue I want to start in saying I do not believe ADD is an actual medical disorder. Concentration can be approved naturally without medication. I also believe many symptoms of ADD are attributed to the unnatural settings in which humans are forced to work in ever day. I am not gong to debate about that now though. Now let's begin.

I can't tune out background noise or white noise. I hear every conversation everywhere all the time. If the T.V. is on I hear every conversation. I like a nice quiet house but I can't go anywhere in my house where my dad or mom don't have the T.V. on. I think it might be our thin walls because I can hear every noise everywhere. Teachers at school when I was younger would tell me I have concentration issues. No it was just because I can't concentrate in noisy classrooms. For instance if I lived next to a highway my mind would not filter the highway noise. I hear everything from the clock, the refrigerator humming. Quite frankly all this white noise going on in he background is not healthy for humans.

Is anyone pissed off at the way society work with all this background noise! And man, All these unnatural lights that have to be on at night. I like a nice quiet dark house. Maybe a lamp but nothing more. If it's dark outside I want it to be dark in my home. All this light pollution ruining the night sky.

Unfortunaly it stays this way until I move out and I don't complain to my parents about it.

[James Dean]

If this helps you, I turn off everything when I start to go to bed. The television, lights, if there is any type of light source like if my phone is blinking, I turn it face down.

I once had an alarm clock that made noise and I had to stop using it because I couldn't sleep due to the ticking. I am also sensitive to some sounds and I hate hearing balloons pop, loud motors, loud car stereos, and my neighbors next door they have a new baby and I get annoyed by that.

I feel alone and nobody can relate. I understand to them they can cope with the ambient sound, I however cannot and it starts to bug me. I then realize we all deal with what we deal with. I am not saying it could be mental because it might be, it could just be the way nature made us and we learn to deal. Hopefully things go well for you with this issue. :)

[Magenta]

Everyone's brains work differently. Some people can filter a lot of noises, other people can't. I write essays with iTunes on, I can fall asleep to loud Youtube videos, I used to live across the street from a hospital and when people asked me if the sirens bugged me all the time it took me a moment to realize that there were sirens at all because I didn't hear them. But, when I was a lot younger, my mum had to go to every length just to make sure I slept at night because if there was so much as one tiny light or sound, I was awake and trying to figure out what it was. I think part of it is a mental training process. I was taught from a young age to block out external stimuli when I needed to sleep or focus. Slowly, I was introduced to more of it once the healthy habits were established. I think I just learned to ignore background noise (you can't walk up behind me while I'm doing something without announcing yourself first because even then I may not hear you).

So if you haven't already, try some of the things suggested above. Start tailoring your environment to your needs (maybe invest in some earplugs) and work from there. If you can get accommodations at school, use them. We had that for students who couldn't write exams in the exam hall because of all the ambient noise. Anyway, hope it gets better.