Why instinctually cover my ears instead of turn away?

January 19, 2012 7:09 AM

I've noticed something curious about how I react to unexpected stressful or scary situations . . . my instinctual reaction is always to cover my ears. This is even if something isn't loud and is going to be more visually distressing, like once when I saw a baby launched out of a car seat that was placed precariously in the front section of a grocery store cart. Why do you think I do this? I also find it comforting to fall asleep to a white noise machine, cancel out noises while on an airplane, etc. etc. so I wonder if this is related. No childhood traumas or anything like that, in case relevant.
posted by lovingkindness to Health & Fitness (9 answers total)

I think the instinct to blot out one's senses during a traumatic situation is pretty common. You might just as well throw your hands over your eyes, or over your mouth to stifle a gasp or scream. The white noise/comfort thing is even more universal -- that's why they're so popular and so oft-recommended -- so I don't see how they could possibly be related.

tl;dr: people have weird automatic reactions to things.
posted by hermitosis at 7:16 AM on January 19, 2012

Best answer: My first instinct would probably be to cover my ears in your example, too. I think it's because you already saw it happening, too late to close your eyes, so the next best thing is to cover your ears so you don't hear whatever horrifying THUD is going to happen next. Doesn't seem to be very odd at all, IMO.
posted by coupdefoudre at 7:40 AM on January 19, 2012

That's how I cringe too. It might just be an instinctive way of protecting the head in general.
posted by callmejay at 8:04 AM on January 19, 2012

You can look up auditory/sensory defensiveness. It's a thing, to varying degrees and with myriad ways of being expressed and described. I'm a flincher too.
posted by peagood at 8:05 AM on January 19, 2012

I do the same thing. I have some hypersensitivity issues in general and find it hard to process lots of different stimuli at once, and noise is definitely the most over-loading for me. In a stressful situation like that I would definitely cover my ears, just because I wouldn't be able to think straight otherwise.

(A more ridiculous example: there was a weird smell around the house and in order to figure out what is was and where it was coming from I had to cover my ears and close my eyes in order to just process the smell.)
posted by maybeandroid at 8:15 AM on January 19, 2012

Best answer: My sister does this too. Not as much as when she was younger but she still does it.

Once when she was an older child I asked her to explain it to me. She said it's because her eyes can close but her ears can't. When she saw something scary she would close her eyes and cover her ears. Then she was sure to block out all scary stimuli.
posted by TooFewShoes at 8:52 AM on January 19, 2012

Be grateful you don't have a weirder response to stress; mine is a wide grin and bouts of nervous laughter, which in a recent car accident I learned is apparently very unnerving to spectators, paramedics, and the police.
posted by ook at 9:06 AM on January 19, 2012 [4 favorites]

I do this sometimes! I was recently on a road trip and we ended up on this freaky back path with a "bridge out" sign pushed to the side, and it was very dark. I remember covering my ears/cheeks because I was so scared. I also cover my ears and close my eyes if I'm watching a movie and I don't want to see part of it (because the image/sounds might stay in my mind longer than I'd like). It seems like a normal way to control incoming stimuli.
posted by sucre at 9:10 PM on January 19, 2012

Oh, and I also use earplugs and an eyemask every night, which are both comforting to me as well.
posted by sucre at 9:12 PM on January 19, 2012