I can't express how grateful I am to have found this forum! it's nice to know that I'm not the only one who has to deal with these issues.

Anyway, I have what I guess can be called severe auditory defensiveness. Certain sounds and tones of voice can send shocks of pain up my spine. For some reason, the effect is worse when the source of said noise is right behind me. When my boyfriend and I cuddle, I have to be on the outside (the "big spoon," I guess), because otherwise he can't talk without me wanting to crawl out of my skin.

I prefer to sit in the back seat of cars (unless the back stereo is playing), and whenever I go to restaurants, I have to sit with my back against a wall whenever humanly possible.

Airplanes rides and flying in general are special kinds of torture for me. Which sucks, because I love to travel, especially abroad. It drives my boyfriend crazy. Quite frankly, if I were in his shoes, I'd probably want to strangle me. Because of all of the sensory awfulness that goes along with flying, I'm not the most pleasant person to travel with. I can get very antsy and easily overwhelmed, which occasionally leads me to snap at him for no apparent reason or shut down. If people behind me are quiet or there's no one sitting directly behind me, I'm ok. However, if the people behind me decide they want to chat for the duration of the flight, I end up in excruciating pain for any number of hours. One time we were on a very full flight where two chirpy co-eds discovered they belonged to the same sorority, and excitedly discussed this all flight long. I turned around and asked if they wouldn't mind not talking for a little bit. They looked at me as if I'd asked them to kick a puppy... The pain was so excruciating that I was reduced to tears and probably had an anxiety attack for the duration of that flight. Nothing my poor boyfriend could say or do made things any better. Not deep breathing. Not headphones. Not reassuring me that I would get through this. Nothing. It was a nightmare for the both of us.

We can sit in the back of the plane, but then we're stuck in seats that don't recline. Sometimes headphones can tune out the noise, but if I can hear people talking over my headphones, that just makes things worse. The ear plugs you can buy at CVS or whatever don't block out enough noise or the right pitches. Noise canceling headphones cancel out the engine noise, which is the opposite of helpful. Canceling out the engine noise actually makes the sounds that trigger me even sharper and more agonizing.

Does anyone else deal with this issue? If so, how do you cope?

Would it be weird to invest in some sort of industrial hearing protection to wear over my headphones or foam ear plugs?