You would think that not hearing things wouldn’t be a problem for HSP. Turns out it is a problem.
Now you should rightly say “You are complaining about things that don’t matter!” You are right. This doesn’t matter but I find it interesting to share. Since I have been using the noise-canceling earphones full-time I have noticed some pros/cons.
One of the pros of course is that I am really focused on what I am doing. I also tend to miss the signals of things like laundry which I only notice at quiet parts of the music or when I temporarily turn the music off. Often I will wear them without listening to any music because the noise canceling makes it very quiet. It is fun to listen to the quiet.
Now here are the downsides. Once I turn them on I feel a subtle pressure in my inner ear. It isn’t uncomfortable but I know when its on and off because I feel that pressure. Even with no music the noise cancelling is sending a signal. This is a minor issue. The most dramatic issue however is that when I listen to random YouTube videos I sometimes get confused if the sound is from the video or coming from my environment. Multiple times I have thought that the background sounds in YouTube videos especially ones that are in public/home setting match noises that seem like they are coming from my environment. I take my headphones off and only then do I realize that the sound was from the video and not the background.
It seems that wearing noise canceling headphones confuses your brain what is a sound from the video and what is a sound from your environment. i actually enjoy this. Instead of being distracted by the weird construction noises I am confused by the background noises on YouTube videos. I laugh at myself for thinking that these foreign sounds are coming from my environment. For example the sound of an opening door makes me take off my headphones because my door opens when my wife gets home and I want to be able to greet her.
Still even with these two minor things I love having these sound canceling headphones. They are clearly better than any others that I have used and so far I love them.