What's the syndrome / explanation / correct term for this...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Armistice
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Armistice

Armistice

Son of Yoda
.... when there's a constant steady state sort of noise happening and after awhile you no longer "hear" it because your brain starts filtering it out?

You know how when the constant hum of something in the background suddenly stops and you realise in the new silence that you weren't even aware of the hum in the first place?

Having a battle with a neighbour about exhaust fan noise and I'm trying to use the correct terminology - and imply that if she stops thinking about it all the time, she'll soon not be aware of it at all, seeing there's nothing that can be done to lessen it.

I know there's a proper term!
 
Marriage?

Parenthood?

Tell her to tune it out the same way you are gonna tune out her complaints! :p
 
LOL.. I wish. Unfortunately as a member of the exec committee, I have to listen to her.... :(
 
Armistice said:
.... when there's a constant steady state sort of noise happening and after awhile you no longer "hear" it because your brain starts filtering it out?

......


I know there's a proper term!
Click to expand...

Rap.....?
 
LOL... I thought there was a funky sound word for it, like, you know, the Fletcher Munson Effect, but it appears not.

"Habituation" is about the only thing I can find that describes it, and that's not just related to sound...

Tx for your amusing suggestions. I think "acclimation" is the process of an actual physical change to something, not quite what we're talking here though c7.. at least as far as I can tell... :thumbs up:
 
The technical term is habituation. It's a neurological process. (Trust me, I'm a health professional :cool:)
 
To flesh that out just a bit, habituation is the nervous system's response to regularly repeating stimuli. A normally functioning nervous system can automatically raise or lower the threshold for stimulus, depending on the situation. The raising or lowering of threshold for stimulus is called modulation. So with habituation, the threshold for neurological stimulus increases (ie you ignore the stimulus). This allows you to filter out, for example, background traffic sound to focus in on a conversation. I believe that this abilty to modulate does not function correctly in people who have an autism spectrum disorder, and it interferes with their ability to block out unwanted senses.

Paul
 
Habituation is how Rush Limbaugh got hooked on oxycontin.
 
The ability to selectively hear is a male survival mechanism :p
 
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