I usually just go outside and take a walk when inside noise bothers me, even if i go with my younger sister that yells really loud, the absesnce of walls gets rid of the echo that makes me feel “pain”.

I don’t have much to offer in the way of suggestions, but it is genuinely relieving to know I’m not the only one with this kind of issue.

On top of noise reducing earplugs, I’d also suggest that you try to figure out ways you can reset your stress/overwhelm levels. For me, that can be listening to music on headphones (a predictable noise, which helps settle me) or taking a shower. You can work with your partner (or family/friends/neighbors) to support you in avoiding situations that are triggering (preparing dinner, for me). You can have activities ready to entertain your child while you take care of yourself (maybe an audiobook on headphones for them, coloring pages, sensory play, etc).

The game is about managing things and identifying when you start to get overwhelmed. There’s no silver bullet, but lots of little steps can make a huge impact.

If you’ve not learnt it already, some mental anchoring techniques might help you. Mine help me a lot. I have 2 main ones, internal and external. The Internal one helps best for blocking externally driven mental problems, while the external one is useful for internally driven ones. You might already know them, but in case you don’t…

Internal:

This requires some minor prep work. When you’re in a good place, mentally, stop, and turn your attention inward. What you want to do is “map” as much as you can about your current internal state. How your feeling, how your thinking, even how your standing and moving. Map what your mind, body and soul are actually doing and feeling.

Later, when you are on tilt, mental, you can use your map. Take a moment and focus inwards again, you will find a very different state. For me it’s akin to a stormy sea, but that’s often personal. Now you take your mapped state, and almost lay it over your mind like a blanket. Because it is your own mental state to begin with, your mind will be a lot more accepting of it. It will also quickly learn that this is a positive thing, and try and fit to the new pattern. This then pushes your mind towards that “ideal”, calm, and focused state, rather than its chaotic one. External stimuli can still push it back into tilt, but you now, at least have a method to push back.

External:

This is better against internally generated chaos. This sort tends to resist the mental blanket technique, like a toddler resisting nap time.

It’s actually quite simple, just pay attention to the world around you. It’s a “classic” anchoring technique for panic attacks. You want to notice everything, the colours of the walls, the marks on the table, the feel of your cloths, and your breath moving in and out. This effectively crowds out the thought loop that is sending you off kilter.

Do not use this technique, if your external environment is more chaotic than your internal one! If you do, it can be akin to pouring oil onto a fire.

It could be a form of hyperacusis. Noising canceling headphones help. Also there is an earplug for concerts called vibes that I found in Amazon. You can still hear people talk, they are discreet, and help with my auditory discomfort.

I think I experience a fairly similar reaction with dog barking (it has driven me so insane at times I experienced for the first time in my life what can only be described as “meltdowns”), which for me I have discovered that “action” is my remedy when drowning out doesn‘t work anymore. So I don‘t think you can do that with a kid you need to care for lol unless you get someone to help, but my favourite action is to get up and leave, I get up as soon as I notice it gets too much and go on a walk until I calmed down, usually quite a long one until I find a place without dog barking and can listen to quiet for a bit. Another good action for me is taking a shower (our bathroom is probably the one I can hear the dog the least).