4 ms·

SoundPrint: Telling those of us with auditory sensitivities where not to go

73 points by exotree 5y ago

Stracke 5y ago
[dead]
lozenge 5y ago
On improvements, how about incorporating the user's judgment of how busy/full the venue is? A quiet reading at 3pm on Tuesday in a restaurant is not helpful to somebody looking for a venue for a Friday evening dinner.
- keeri 5y ago
  love that idea.
  - G14F 5y ago
    FYI This idea is already included in the SoundPrint app
smegsicle 5y ago
Mark Proksch explains 'auditory sensitivities' https://yewtu.be/watch?v=sB7N4hcvjm0 https://yewtu.be/watch?v=sB7N4hcvjm0
aaron695 5y ago
eappleby 5y ago
I’m a fan of Soundprint. I’ve used their app since they were featured in the New Yorker a few years ago. I try to avoid loud restaurants and their quiet list is a great way to discover new places: https://www.soundprint.co/locations/united-states/new-york/new-york https://www.soundprint.co/locations/united-states/new-york/n...
copperwater69 5y ago
My first impression before reading the article was that this was for people with perfect pitch to avoid areas blasting out of tune notes playing in public spaces. Very common in train stations, crosdswalks and elevator sounds etc.
- whatshisface 5y ago
  They're not out of tune, they're just on... nonwestern scales. :)
- Filligree 5y ago
  It's painful, but you do get used to it. Or just... wear your headphones all the time, like I do. Would be nice if people didn't do that, but, well.
  - lozenge 5y ago
    Some people can't get used to it.
anonymousiam 5y ago
I am one of those people. I love music, and my hearing has recently been tested as "perfect", but I got the hearing test at the request of my wife because she thought I had a hearing problem. For me, everything is good until I am exposed to a loud environment. People around me can talk/understand each other just fine, but I get overwhelmed. After discussing my problem with the audiologist, he recommended a neurologist. I don't think there's a cure for what I have, and I've lived with it as an adult for 40 years. I just downloaded this app to my (Android) phone. I see that it has 10k downloads so far. I am looking forward to using it.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- aviditas 5y ago
  A few years ago I realized that my dyslexia in the form of dyscalculia wasn't isolated. I have some minor auditory dyslexia which wasn't a surprise as much as OH that's what's happening. I rely on lip reading for context clues to fill in the gaps where I didn't understand what was said, and subtitles on pretty much everything. I have also have excellent hearing but for whatever reason my brain likes to hear gibberish instead of words at the beginning of most people's sentences. I was never diagnosed as a kid because my reading skills were above average and being forced to write each step out in math was a good thing for me. (I just can't hold numbers in my head and they will twist if I try to concentrate on them.) In the long run, it hasn't been an issue for for my career, I let the computers do math and have rigorous double check habits. It has proven an issue with interactions as it can be difficult to know when to respond to someone as I can't tell who they speaking to if I don't have line of sight. I know that can make me feel cold and like I'm ignoring them intentionally when I just don't want to be the person who just constantly goes 'what?' all the time and explaining it is a rather tedious thing when it's someone who is just a work colleague.
- h4waii 5y ago
  Might it be misophonia? Might be if you have what seems like an extreme over-reaction to outsiders or haven't realized you may have Misophonia and can't figure out why you're feeling tension or "anxiety" for no apparent reason.
itisit 5y ago
What prevents a bad actor from wailing into their phone for 15 seconds and making a submission?
- Cthulhu_ 5y ago
  It should become statistically insignificant / an outlier / literal noise with enough submissions.
- kaetemi 5y ago
  I suppose you'd be better off staying away from them anyway.
- keeri 5y ago
  My understanding is they simply average the SoundChecks to give the oveall score and haven't looked at outliers yet...so I guess if you're very against a particular venue you can simply scream into your phone for 15 seconds repeatedly and give them a very bad average score XD
elric 5y ago
Is there something similar for people with visual sensitivies? Bright lights mess me up. Even something as simple as the headlight on a bicycle can trip me up. Bright billboards in the dark are the worst.
- keeri 5y ago
  I'm completely with you on this and have not found an app at this time, but if I do I will CERTAINLY be posting it. At the moment I just wear sunglasses or transition glasses when I go out. A better solution would be ideal.
keeri 5y ago
Author here- Thanks for the interest and ideas. This blog is a hobby of mine to cover tech that makes the world more accessible to everyone, so it was cool to see so many people with more ideas, interest, and questions. Feel free to reach out if y'all have any questions or tech you'd like to see blogged about in the future.

73 points by exotree 5y ago

[dead]

On improvements, how about incorporating the user's judgment of how busy/full the venue is? A quiet reading at 3pm on Tuesday in a restaurant is not helpful to somebody looking for a venue for a Friday evening dinner.

keeri 5y ago
love that idea.
- G14F 5y ago
  FYI This idea is already included in the SoundPrint app

smegsicle 5y ago

Mark Proksch explains 'auditory sensitivities' https://yewtu.be/watch?v=sB7N4hcvjm0 https://yewtu.be/watch?v=sB7N4hcvjm0

aaron695 5y ago

eappleby 5y ago

I’m a fan of Soundprint. I’ve used their app since they were featured in the New Yorker a few years ago. I try to avoid loud restaurants and their quiet list is a great way to discover new places: https://www.soundprint.co/locations/united-states/new-york/new-york https://www.soundprint.co/locations/united-states/new-york/n...

copperwater69 5y ago

My first impression before reading the article was that this was for people with perfect pitch to avoid areas blasting out of tune notes playing in public spaces. Very common in train stations, crosdswalks and elevator sounds etc.

whatshisface 5y ago
They're not out of tune, they're just on... nonwestern scales. :)
Filligree 5y ago
It's painful, but you do get used to it. Or just... wear your headphones all the time, like I do. Would be nice if people didn't do that, but, well.
- lozenge 5y ago
  Some people can't get used to it.

anonymousiam 5y ago

I am one of those people. I love music, and my hearing has recently been tested as "perfect", but I got the hearing test at the request of my wife because she thought I had a hearing problem. For me, everything is good until I am exposed to a loud environment. People around me can talk/understand each other just fine, but I get overwhelmed. After discussing my problem with the audiologist, he recommended a neurologist. I don't think there's a cure for what I have, and I've lived with it as an adult for 40 years. I just downloaded this app to my (Android) phone. I see that it has 10k downloads so far. I am looking forward to using it.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
aviditas 5y ago
A few years ago I realized that my dyslexia in the form of dyscalculia wasn't isolated. I have some minor auditory dyslexia which wasn't a surprise as much as OH that's what's happening. I rely on lip reading for context clues to fill in the gaps where I didn't understand what was said, and subtitles on pretty much everything. I have also have excellent hearing but for whatever reason my brain likes to hear gibberish instead of words at the beginning of most people's sentences. I was never diagnosed as a kid because my reading skills were above average and being forced to write each step out in math was a good thing for me. (I just can't hold numbers in my head and they will twist if I try to concentrate on them.) In the long run, it hasn't been an issue for for my career, I let the computers do math and have rigorous double check habits. It has proven an issue with interactions as it can be difficult to know when to respond to someone as I can't tell who they speaking to if I don't have line of sight. I know that can make me feel cold and like I'm ignoring them intentionally when I just don't want to be the person who just constantly goes 'what?' all the time and explaining it is a rather tedious thing when it's someone who is just a work colleague.
h4waii 5y ago
Might it be misophonia? Might be if you have what seems like an extreme over-reaction to outsiders or haven't realized you may have Misophonia and can't figure out why you're feeling tension or "anxiety" for no apparent reason.

itisit 5y ago

What prevents a bad actor from wailing into their phone for 15 seconds and making a submission?

Cthulhu_ 5y ago
It should become statistically insignificant / an outlier / literal noise with enough submissions.
kaetemi 5y ago
I suppose you'd be better off staying away from them anyway.
keeri 5y ago
My understanding is they simply average the SoundChecks to give the oveall score and haven't looked at outliers yet...so I guess if you're very against a particular venue you can simply scream into your phone for 15 seconds repeatedly and give them a very bad average score XD

elric 5y ago

Is there something similar for people with visual sensitivies? Bright lights mess me up. Even something as simple as the headlight on a bicycle can trip me up. Bright billboards in the dark are the worst.

keeri 5y ago
I'm completely with you on this and have not found an app at this time, but if I do I will CERTAINLY be posting it. At the moment I just wear sunglasses or transition glasses when I go out. A better solution would be ideal.

keeri 5y ago

Author here- Thanks for the interest and ideas. This blog is a hobby of mine to cover tech that makes the world more accessible to everyone, so it was cool to see so many people with more ideas, interest, and questions. Feel free to reach out if y'all have any questions or tech you'd like to see blogged about in the future.