Car noise anxiety (souped-up vehicles, loud stereos with windows wide open, etc)

[Lencoboy]

I know I already covered this particular issue in the 'heatwave' thread, but it's really playing on my mind right now.

Whenever people drive past in cars with souped-up engines and/or exhausts, and/or playing their car stereos full blast with the windows wide open (especially if it's certain types of music that I dislike being played), it really sets me on edge and sometimes even enrages me inside.

As well as near my day centre, certain sad cases have driven around our estate recently blaring out loud music from their stereos with the windows wide open; even certain delivery drivers have been known to get out of their cars or vans leaving them parked on the road with 'gangsta-rap' music blasting out at full volume while at the same time leaving the window(s) wide open and even leaving the keys in the ignition, which can inadvertently pose an opportunity for certain people to steal their vehicle (especially in less desirable areas).

While people playing loud car stereos and driving around in souped-up vehicles is most certainly nothing new, and has actually been going on ever since I can remember (at least during the past 35 years or so since car stereos first started becoming more sophisticated both technically and sonically), I do feel far more sensitive to such things nowadays than ever before, unlike in the past when and where such things mostly just seemed to go over my head.

I seriously can't see what really benefits people from driving souped-up vehicles, playing loud stereos with the windows wide open and all in all kicking up unnecessary din, apart from the obvious thrill of 'showing off' and 'looking 'ard'.

Does anyone else on here feel like this about such things of late, or do you think I'm overreacting and should 'get a life'?

[Fishmanpa]

Does anyone else on here feel like this about such things of late, or do you think I'm overreacting and should 'get a life'?

There's a guy living across the street that has a vehicle like that with the subwoofers that literally shake the windows. Yeah, its annoying but it only last a few seconds at most until he drives off or turns off the car when he gets home. Sadly, I see you're back at the same trivial annoyances posts and yes, you're overreacting and should find a way to deal with it.

FMP

[Lencoboy]

There's a guy living across the street that has a vehicle like that with the subwoofers that literally shake the windows. Yeah, its annoying but it only last a few seconds at most until he drives off or turns off the car when he gets home. Sadly, I see you're back at the same trivial annoyances posts and yes, you're overreacting and should find a way to deal with it.

FMP

Probably more likely because I'm getting older (46 next month) and more cynical about/less tolerant of certain issues that mostly passed me by previously, though I'm certainly not proud of it. Could also be some sign of 'post-pandemic blues' where others have reportedly become less tolerant of certain day-to-day noises, though once again I'm not necessarily using that as an excuse/justification. Pain posted a link on here to a newspaper article about it a few weeks ago, but it now appears to have been deleted.

Plus in the grand scheme of things I suppose me hearing the vehicle-related noises I'm sensitive to ATM is probably a walk in the park compared to, say, getting physically assaulted.

[BlueIris]

I'm also 46 and not massively fond of loud noises.

That said, the more you broaden your world the less annoying these things tend to be. You really do need to get outside your bubble and interact with more people.

[Lencoboy]

I'm also 46 and not massively fond of loud noises.

That said, the more you broaden your world the less annoying these things tend to be. You really do need to get outside your bubble and interact with more people.

I think you could be right there.

Like I said above, I think it could be a post-pandemic thing where I'm more sensitive to certain things that never really paid as much attention to prior to the first lockdown in March 2020, possibly due to diminished exposure to such things over the course of the pandemic when we had all the restrictions, of which of course I'm glad are 'water under the bridge' now.

My dad also admitted recently to losing confidence himself with certain things over the same time period, especially the thought of driving longer distances and to certain places which he used to do pre-pandemic usually without giving it as much as a second thought.

[Lolalee1]

I paid back the neighbors by playing Eminem full bore todayThey had a weekend party and I wasn’t happy.

[Lencoboy]

I paid back the neighbors by playing Eminem full bore todayThey had a weekend party and I wasn’t happy.

Good God, that's enough to drive anyone to distraction that isn't an Eminem fan (including me), but kudos to you for getting your own back!

Luckily, these wild house parties aren't really an issue for me ATM mainly because our immediate neighbours don't appear to be of the type who are likely to indulge in such things, so I'm therefore spared such ear torture!

Plus apart from the aforementioned occasional loud car stereo blasters and people driving loud, souped-up vehicles (who in most cases don't actually live on our estate but are just visiting or delivering), 'yob culture' and ASB in general is virtually non-existent in my immediate area too, thank God!

[Lencoboy]

I think I've always had elements of misophonia.

I've never understood people who seem to get kicks from being unnecessarily noisy.

Another bugbear of mine right now is people speaking at the top of their voices on their phones in public places, and my dad often thinks I'm unreasonable whenever I make an issue of it, saying it's a free country and I shouldn't dictate to other people's habits, rights to free speech, etc. Also people unnecessarily banging and slamming doors, slamming objects down on tables/desks, etc, really grates on me.

But neither my dad nor anyone else within my current circle ever seems to have such issues, and are also seemingly indifferent a lot of the time.