Auditory Hell

Visual, tactile, auditory – which one are you? 

I’m an auditory person, meaning sound is my primary sensory receiver.  It is my antennae on the world around me.  It is sometimes my greatest joy and deepest hell.

The Joy:

Sitting in an acoustically perfect concert hall, I can be moved to tears with each crescendo of the symphony.  It swells from the inside and feels like my very soul could burst out at any moment.  I don’t know how it can be contained at times.  Or in a car with a great audio system, I love it loud, before it becomes distorted.  I want to drink it in and feel it from the tip of my toes to the strands of my hair. 

My taste in music runs from classical, jazz, blues, rock (classic, hard and extra heavy), R&B, indie, soul, funk, throw in the guilty pleasure of 80’s pop with techno and some bluegrass (not to be confused with contemporary country which I find completely offensive to my ears) and keep the new stuff coming.

But music is not my only auditory joy.  There is exquisite pleasure in the sound of a laughing baby.  Who could not find joy in that one?  Gentle rain falling and patting the roof and nearby leaves on the tree, the swell of waves rushing to stretch out on the shore, locusts sounding out on a quiet summer evening, the hum of a well-tuned engine, the popping sound of a cork coming out of a bottle of good wine, rippling water over rocks in a stream and lapping the shore of a riverbank, the voices of the people I love.  Especially, the voices of the people I love.

The Hell:

Not all auditory input is pleasurable – just as not all smells are good ones and not all sights are bearable.  Some sounds can’t be escaped from and make me shudder with revulsion.  Besides the obvious nails on a chalkboard, a few others make me want to crawl out of my skin and die.

Open-mouth chewing and smacking lips, loud crunching and chewing, popping gum, belching and other audible body noises, spitting, sinus and phlegm expulsion (see other audible body noises), shrieking from spoiled children, alarms of almost any kind, excessive use of profanity, constant crackling of chip bags (pour a portion into a bowl for Christ’s sake!), lazy speech habits that cause the user to appear idiotic. Whining – adult or child, it doesn’t matter.  All these things trigger a great deal of stress to an auditory person that a visual or tactile may think is “no big deal”.

Don’t get the impression that I’m whining (which I detest, as pointed out above).  I just hope to bring awareness to those of you who may be visual or tactile in nature.  After all, your next job may hinge on a successful interview with an auditory person.  What that person hears from you is how they “see” you.  The person you wanted to date may have been turned off completely by the experience of dining with you and enduring your lip-smacking. 

In turn, I will do my best not to offend others visually or by touch or smell.  I try to be sensitive to those with other primary sensory receptacles.

<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://cdn.widgetserver.com/syndication/subscriber/InsertWidget.js”></script><script type=”text/javascript”>if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget(’8f4f8081-0b8c-4edf-8fdb-1031fef54b79′);</script><noscript>Get the <a href=”http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/my-triond-articles”>My Triond Articles</a> widget and many other <a href=”http://www.widgetbox.com/”>great free widgets</a> at <a href=”http://www.widgetbox.com”>Widgetbox</a>! Not seeing a widget? (<a href=”http://docs.widgetbox.com/using-widgets/installing-widgets/why-cant-i-see-my-widget/”>More info</a>)</noscript>