Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

For some with ADHD, the low rumble of brown noise quiets the brain

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 317 posts

Re: For some with ADHD, the low rumble of brown noise quiets the brain

#41

Post by eyelidlessness »

mxkopy wrote: post #38
selcuka wrote: post #15

Slightly tangential but this reminds me of the short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut [1]: > In the year 2081, the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the Constitution dictate that all Americans are fully equal and not allowed to be smarter, better-looking, or more physically able than anyone else. The Handicapper General's agents enforce the equality laws, forcing citizens to wear "handicaps": masks for…

I don't have any sources other than anecdotal, but I'm under the impression many are diagnosed with ADHD as a result of behavior shown in school. It's almost like, ADHD is the disease you have when you're "unable to do consistent & focused work". Obviously medically it's some dysfunction in dopamine regulation, but how many underpaid overworked teachers/parents have access to equipment that would actually measure tha…

Speaking as an adult diagnosee, whose diagnosis had nothing to do with the behavioral problems in the DSM other than finding a way to fit my actual symptoms to diagnostic criteria, with a caring and mindful intake doctor and then a psychiatrist…

I agree the diagnostics are unhelpful. I think takes like this are equally if not more unhelpful. I definitely struggled with boredom and didn’t mesh with the design of my educational programs… but I also struggled intensely with anxiety and depression, both very deeply rooted in my ADHD experience. I struggled with them for decades before I understood what my experience was and found helpful treatment. I may well have suffered a much less severe and much shorter time had I not had a parent who was just as dismissive of the actual disorder I experience.

Your take is the same as the diagnostics: attributing it to externally observed childhood behavior that doesn’t suit adults. Meanwhile adults with undiagnosed and untreated ADHD experience higher anxiety and depression, higher suicide rates, higher rates of substance abuse. We’re permanently in a state of trauma.

Instead of rescuing kids from symptoms assigned to them by adults, if you want to help kids with ADHD, help them have a voice about what they feel and need.

Re: For some with ADHD, the low rumble of brown noise quiets the brain

#42

Post by lghh »

mxkopy wrote: post #38
selcuka wrote: post #15

Slightly tangential but this reminds me of the short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut [1]: > In the year 2081, the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the Constitution dictate that all Americans are fully equal and not allowed to be smarter, better-looking, or more physically able than anyone else. The Handicapper General's agents enforce the equality laws, forcing citizens to wear "handicaps": masks for…

I don't have any sources other than anecdotal, but I'm under the impression many are diagnosed with ADHD as a result of behavior shown in school. It's almost like, ADHD is the disease you have when you're "unable to do consistent & focused work". Obviously medically it's some dysfunction in dopamine regulation, but how many underpaid overworked teachers/parents have access to equipment that would actually measure tha…

But also plenty of them could eeeeek actually have ADHD.

Re: For some with ADHD, the low rumble of brown noise quiets the brain

#43

Post by eyelidlessness »

klysm wrote: post #28
velox_neb wrote: post #10

Who doesn't love a bit of smoothed brown noise to drown out the outside world. No need to diagnose yourself with ADHD over it.

I don't think anybody is diagnosing themselves with ADHD over this, but if you have ADHD it seems like a good thing to know. I definitely agree smoothed brown noise > brown noise though.

I’m not an ADHD emissary but… please folks, self diagnose. Don’t self treat, that’s what we do anyway. If you think you have ADHD, take it seriously until you don’t. If you’re still taking it seriously, talk to a professional. We’re wildly underdiagnosed, and you’re probably right.

Re: For some with ADHD, the low rumble of brown noise quiets the brain

#44

Post by dghughes »

theGnuMe wrote: post #19
kortex wrote: post #8

I have ADHD and I straight-up don't do silence. Between restless brain and tinnitus, actual silence, or anything with a noise floor below ~15dB, just doesn't sit right with me. 20-30dB is about ideal. Especially when trying to sleep. I have some sort of fan/filter in just about every room. When I'm working, I'm almost always listening to music (unless I'm way over stimulated). It probably started when I was much youn…

Many people use sound machines to drown out background noise so it doesn’t wake you up. You can however train yourself on to a sound machine or off of one. Some people can’t fall asleep unless the tv is on or the radio or a podcast… same principle. But it really only makes sense if you environment is quiet in general.

I think it's consistent sound/noise that matters. My Dad worked on a ship and he said when he was trying to sleep the worst sounds were intermittent. He preferred a constant sound no matter what it was.

Re: For some with ADHD, the low rumble of brown noise quiets the brain

#45

Post by dghughes »

I went to college late in life. We had Python programming class which I liked but I couldn't concentrate in a class with people talking even in low tones, key clacking, phones beeping. Exams were the worst but I got permission to use headphones. At first I tried white noise then pink noise but brown noise is what I found the best. I needed maximum concentration and the entire hour to finish the coding exam. To my knowledge I don't have ADHD but I wouldn't doubt I have it in some form.

Re: For some with ADHD, the low rumble of brown noise quiets the brain

#47

Post by Eleison23 »

schneems wrote: post #29
selcuka wrote: post #15

Slightly tangential but this reminds me of the short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut [1]: > In the year 2081, the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the Constitution dictate that all Americans are fully equal and not allowed to be smarter, better-looking, or more physically able than anyone else. The Handicapper General's agents enforce the equality laws, forcing citizens to wear "handicaps": masks for…

> Slightly tangential That's a little more than slightly. I've got no clue what in the article brought that up for you or how you're relating it back.

ADHD is a "disorder" that is predicated on "this person's behavior annoys people around him and therefore should be corrected."

ADHD is only a disorder because human pegs must be pounded into the square holes of class in a sterile schoolroom behind bars, during daylight hours for much of the year, in preparation for white-collar office jobs that many of them won't achieve, but nevertheless you must sit down, pay attention to lectures and study irrelevant things.

And if you can't pay attention, don't take away their computers, video games, or reduce their screen time, just pump them full of amphetamines until they're so drowsy during the day they're just struggling to fall asleep.

ADHD is very Harrison Bergeron, and the schizophrenic Vonnegut knew exactly what he was writing about.

Re: For some with ADHD, the low rumble of brown noise quiets the brain

#48

Post by neltnerb »

xattt wrote: post #24
neltnerb wrote: post #22

This also helps cover up constant early morning construction and traffic. If I can help it I just use: play -n synth brown on any linux system with sox installed... it's definitely the cleanest sound I've found. Problem with most phone programs is that despite brown noise being comically easy to generate live, they record a clip and then loop it so there's weird artifacts. I honestly don't know why I don't have the a…

Is there anyway to create an http stream of your output? I have a home automation on Hubitat to play a 10-hour brown noise file, hosted on a home Ubuntu server, created in Audition to play for night time on a Sonos speaker. Would love to get rid of the file and just get a live generated output.

Honestly your solution is probably already the simplest unless you're short for disk space. Maybe someone knows a way to make Ubuntu create a special file that contains a buffer with brown noise, like one of those old tape to CD converters, so that the system sees a music file but it just keeps going. It sounds like a lot of work.

Using 'play -n synth brown' is easy if it's an option. I'd probably use a sound file if it were harder.

Re: For some with ADHD, the low rumble of brown noise quiets the brain

#49

Post by colechristensen »

edgyquant wrote: post #21
treeman79 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Silence is horrible for me. Best is paid programming. Someone that keeps me on task. At home best I’ve found is ear plugs with music in background. Or I can take my medicine and the horrific pain of boredom goes away. I just get a few days of severe nerve pain throughout body.

>just get a few days of severe nerve pain throughout body. What is this? I get the same experience and my docs haven’t given any explanation after multiple times bringing it to their attention.

Welbutrin? That sounds a lot like a common side effect of that drug.

Re: For some with ADHD, the low rumble of brown noise quiets the brain

#50

Post by mxkopy »

lghh wrote: post #42
mxkopy wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have any sources other than anecdotal, but I'm under the impression many are diagnosed with ADHD as a result of behavior shown in school. It's almost like, ADHD is the disease you have when you're "unable to do consistent & focused work". Obviously medically it's some dysfunction in dopamine regulation, but how many underpaid overworked teachers/parents have access to equipment that would actually measure tha…

But also plenty of them could eeeeek actually have ADHD.

ADHD is relatively known, and the solutions for it are institutionalized. In the U.S. at least, people not meshing with society isn't a problem that's super well documented and no institutional solutions exist.
Post reply on HN