I have issues with noise. It's part of the whole ASD thing, alongside issues with light or, more precisely, brightness.

I've had my hearing tested and have extensive details on the high sensitivity of my poor little ears. Why they had to test me is beyond my comprehension...I mean, it's not like I didn't know I can hear things other people either can't or just ignore.

I can hear the bubbles popping in bottles of juice or water, tell the difference between a tv on standby or a dvd-player on standby, pick up on ticking watches, the hum of fans inside computers, frequencies from computer monitors, computer hard-drives and cd players, lights (street lamps are the worst), and the electrics in cars. I can pick up on the green man at crossings over a block away from me...and don't get me started on people chattering in the street. Lying in bed at night I can hear my pulse, the blood rushing through my ears, as my head lies against the pillow. Putting on a pair of headphones just makes it pound louder over the beat of the music.

My mum can pick up a book and never hear another sound until she stops reading. I don't have that ability to block things out.

I'll use professional Ear Protectors when things start to get too much. They block out external noise, but leave me to deal with the pounding of my heartbeat and the hissing of my blood rushing through my ears. That said, it's better than being bombarded by the noise from everything else too.

Anywhere with a crowd can be a nightmare. I'll pick up on the conversations around me whether I want to or not. If there's ten people chattering in a restaurant around me, I hear the ten different conversations. It's like having seven televisions and three radios, all tuned to different channels, on at the same time and blaring out at the same volumn.

They all interrupt one another, merge together in my head and become one big noise that I can't even begin to process to understand. Then the waiter will come over and ask what I'd like to order. I'll see his lips move, but there's a very high chance that whatever he's saying will be completely lost in the deluge from everywhere else.

At work things just become silly. I can hear telephones ringing in the other departments which results in me checking to see if I have to pick up within my own department. To me it sounds as though it's ringing at the next desk. Someone two rooms down from me, repeatedly squeaking a stress ball, will have me grinding my teeth in no time. The guys I work with, however, don't even hear it. They have to go out into the corridor and open all the doors before coming back and saying "Oh yeah, but you have to strain to hear it."

No, no I don't. There's no straining involved at all.

I'd like to get the opposite of a digital hearing aid - something that blocks certain frequency sounds - but I'm not entirely sure there's any company out there that makes anything like that.