I am a very structured and organized person. I find that creating systems and utilizing them helps me to be efficient and keep things on track. However, sometimes, I can fail to stop and analyze if a change would make my life better. At times, I continue using a method that isn’t the best for my life.

I have recently been reminded how beneficial it is to stop and audit my life for noise that doesn’t have to be there. Obviously, there is a lot of sound inherent to life, and background noise is the arch nemesis of everyone with hearing loss. I have two small children, and there sure is a lot of unavoidable noise in the mom gig. Our modern world is full of noise we can’t avoid, whether that is the furnace running or traffic. Even fans from electronics can really add to background noise given enough devices. However, there are also places in my life where the noise doesn’t have to exist.

An example of this in my life is that I have an aquarium with a turtle and a fish. I have long struggled with the constant noise the filter for the aquarium makes. I have moved the tank to different rooms, trying to find where it would be the least invasive to my life. It recently has been in my great room that contains my kitchen and living room. Having the tank there meant that I couldn’t converse with someone on the other side of the room easily. But I hadn’t found a better option.

Recently, I had to replace the filtration system for the tank as mine was no longer viable. My husband did a lot of research and found a filter that was fully submersed and very quiet- as opposed to the standard filter setup with waterfalls or water jets. I was so incredibly excited to get a quieter setup! I would have paid the money years ago had I known it was an option. It has made the living room and kitchen so much more comfortable for me. I find myself hanging out in that room more, whereas previously, I would read or relax in a different room because it wasn’t quiet. I also no longer have to strain to talk to my family while I cook. It was such a small thing, but it had a huge impact.

Another place where this has played a role is in car shopping. When we needed a new car, my husband made sure that I test drove all options before we chose a vehicle.  I have some sound sensitivity that larger vehicles can trigger. Also, I just really wanted a quiet vehicle to improve my odds of being able to converse in the car. We put the quietness of the vehicle very high in our decision matrix. The car we did end up purchasing is pretty comfortable for conversation. Incidentally, we found Subaru is a brand that makes very quiet vehicles and we purchased a Subaru Outback.

I have found researching noise levels for appliances matters. Especially for something like a dishwasher that is a pretty constant companion to daily life. It can be challenging to find out noise info from manufacturers. Sometimes reviewers have useful information, but I also will look for YouTube videos of someone operating the appliance to get a sense of how loud it is prior to purchasing the appliance.

We also try to have a family culture of a quieter home. I have realized that if I allow the kids to be super loud all day that by the evening I have extreme listening fatigue and often get cranky and can not engage as I want to. I find that asking the children to contain loud play in other rooms or to go outside helps me keep my bandwidth for moments when we actually want to connect. We also have a policy that they play music in their rooms and not in the common spaces to help me have choices on my auditory input.

So if you haven’t recently, I would take a moment and audit your life and look for points and places where the sound is making you uncomfortable. Maybe at first glance, there doesn’t seem to be something you can do. However, perhaps with some research or problem solving, you can find a solution to make your world a little more pleasant. I encourage you to be as open-minded as possible as I have sometimes surprised myself with the results. Sometimes, my fix is something large but sometimes it is as simple as a pair of ear plugs to manufacture quiet when it is needed.

Hopefully, by making things quieter where you can, you have hearing energy left when you want to listen. That way, you can enjoy the school stories the kids share, sing along to the music joyfully, or be present when your partner wants to chat. I want to still be able to enjoy sound in my life and not consistently feel overwhelmed by it. One of my best tools for solving my listening fatigue is being strategic about the sound I dwell in.