What is a renovation like from my perspective? What is construction like from my viewpoint? This blog post informs how to overcome the sensory difficulties with hearing throughout building renovation & construction.
How do you cope with power tools?
Power tools (electrically powered saws, drills, grinders, and jigsaws (not the same as puzzle jigsaws!) and sanders) will generate a lot of noise, and the noise level of these tools often range from 80 – 120 decibels, which I don’t like. (Power tool, 2024; & The 10 loudest power tools in your workshop, 2023).
How power tools & noise pollution affect my autism
The loud noises that power tools create cause significant disturbance to my day-to-day life, and create a lot of what is termed “noise pollution” (Noise Pollution, 2024).
In autism, the sense of hearing is much louder than in a neurotypical individual, and this is something that I unfortunately, still struggle to cope with to this day. Hypersensitive (or oversensitive) hearing is also known as “hyperacusis”. (Hyperacusis, 2024), and this makes the sound of power tools unbearable for me. This also makes noise pollution for an autistic individual like me much greater than a neurotypical individual.
Nearly 90% of all autistic people have one or more sense that is elevated, or hypersensitive, which seems to occur in the brain because of some process that “amplifies” that sense. For some, this happens in the sense of hearing, and certain pitches of sound can cause a lot of distress (flight or fight response). (Autism Meltdowns vs. Tantrums, 2022; Autism and Sound Sensitivity, 2023)
Autism and the Brain
When there is too much of this information being fed into the brain at once, a meltdown will occur. Meltdowns are varied and can look like violent behaviour (smashing objects, pounding the floor, etc). For me, this is what they looked like when I was a young child before I developed my language skills. The meltdowns I have today are mostly verbal, which consists of irritability & swearing due to the fact that I have the ability to speak and use language. While many would call this a “tantrum”, autistic meltdowns are different in that a tantrum is manipulative, whereas a meltdown is a release of pressure, with no manipulation. Meltdowns are lifelong, can not be grown or disciplined out of and will never go away.
Another thing to consider, is that tantrums are always driven by a “want”, for example, a child might want a glass of Coca Cola very badly because of the sugar, but the parent is refusing to give any, so the child gets very angry to the point of screaming incessantly (hoping the adult will give in to stop the noise). A meltdown on the other hand, happens due to a “trigger”. For me, a common trigger is any loud noise, not just machinery, but medium to large dogs, loud electronics operated by someone other than me, and small children (unpredictability of loud squeals).
Symptoms of a meltdown may include one or more of the following:
- Anger or crying
- Swearing (Not always, but this can be a symptom)
- The desire to “threaten” the trigger
- Extreme frustration
- Breaking objects
- Screaming
- Yelling
- Irritability
Animated Power Saw
Enjoy a video clip of a power saw (that was formerly a GiF) created with Blender 3.4.1, courtesy of Zachary Wright. This power saw clip is viewable below:
How I cope with power tools, construction and renovation
I have found that getting away (leaving home for the day) from the intense noise of the power tools and construction/renovation noise is the way for me to cope with this for the duration of the renovation/or construction process. Portable battery powered handheld game consoles have also helped me through the day.
The problem with the renovation and maintenance of homes and buildings, is that it is an ongoing process, so the work is never truly “done”.
Painting a house is also another problem, as wet paint creates an awful smell due to chemicals. In autistics, the sense of smell is also amplified.
Unfortunately, renovation and construction can take weeks to many months, and this can have a negative influence on my mental health. This includes:
- Lowered motivation
- Lowered mood
- Increased anger
- The desire to lash out (this is projecting your anger at something or someone)
- Exhaustion (due to sleep deprivation and mental/emotional exhaustion)
- Meltdowns
- Projecting (Blaming another object or entity (like a parrot for instance) for the situation, a coping strategy that makes things worse for me)
It is however, worth the hard work at coping and going out, as the renovation and construction works are eventually done in the end and the noise level immediately normalises once the workers have left.
Princess Lilli Lilac
References
Wikipedia contributors. (2024, July 31). Power tool. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:03, August 11, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Power_tool&oldid=1237776425
Wikipedia contributors. (2024, August 5). Noise pollution. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:04, August 11, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Noise_pollution&oldid=1238661135
Wikipedia contributors. (2024, August 5). Hyperacusis. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:05, August 11, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hyperacusis&oldid=1238799465
Theresa, C. (2023, February 23). The 10 loudest power tools in your workshop. Bob Vila. https://www.bobvila.com/articles/loudest-power-tools
Dannel, R., & Zuri, W. (2022, March 7). Autism meltdowns vs. tantrums: What’s the difference? Psych Central. https://psychcentral.com/autism/autism-meltdowns
Karin, G., & Sarah, B. (2023, December 12). Autism and sound sensitivity: Why it happens and coping tips. Psych Central. https://psychcentral.com/autism/autism-sound-sensitivity