What is a sensory threshold?
Our sensory systems mainly fall into two categories – sensory seeking or sensory avoiding. This is true for all our senses. We process and react to sound and visual stimulation differently depending on this threshold. We can be more sensitive to noises or visual changes in our environment and how we discriminate between sounds. Understanding your visual or auditory threshold can benefit you in many ways such as balancing your mood, knowing possible triggers to stress and then managing your stress by knowing your sensory limits.
The Visual Sense
It is through our eyes that we are able to take in the most information from our environment. Vision is the most dominant, advanced and complex of all the senses. The eyes capture visuals (light images) of the world around us and send them to the brain for interpretation. Yet how we interpret the world is very subjective and differs from person to person.
Vision should not be confused with eyesight, which is only one part of the visual sense. Eyesight is thus only a prerequisite for vision. Vision, unlike sight, is not a skill we are born with but rather one we develop gradually as we integrate our senses. Visual information tells the mind how to think and the body how to move. Visuals around us such as our surroundings can affect our mood, stress levels and therefore our reactions too.
We use vision, first, to detect contrast, edge and movement so we can defend ourselves; and second, to guide and direct our movement so we can interact meaningfully in our environment, socialise, and learn. Vision is used partly as a survival mechanism. It is a complex sensory system that enables us to identify sights, anticipate what is “coming at us”, and prepare for a response. For example, crossing the road.
We base a huge amount of our connection to life, based on what we see. The eyes rely heavily on the other senses for multi-sensory, concrete experiences from which to draw memories and make sense of the visual images. Thus our senses are inextricably interlinked. Our interaction with everyday sights is also based upon touch, taste, smell and sound, as well as our past experiences, which determine how we perceive stimuli. Imagine seeing a beautiful plate of your favourite food in a restaurant that smells incredible and calming music is playing in the background. You see the plate of food and your mood is instantly lifted but the experience is multi-sensory and also draws on memories of eating the food. Then the next step is of course to eat and taste the food.
Do you have a high or low tolerance to visuals?
Some questions to consider:
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- Does Clutter irritate you?
- Do you prefer natural light to fluorescent / bright harsher light?
- What does your Computer screen saver look like – do you prefer a blank or plain screen to a moving colourful screen?
- Do you prefer lots of colours in your home and around you or do you prefer more natural and neutral colour tones?
The answers to the above questions will depend on your unique sensory threshold for your visual sense. When we walk into our kitchen and there is a pile of dishes versus a clean surface, how much does that affect you? If you’re in a room with plain white walls versus colourful walls with a lot of pictures, how differently do you feel? All these scenarios can make you feel a certain way and the level of what you feel is based on your threshold. If the clutter highly annoys you and the plain room greatly calms you, or the colourful greatly inspired you, you could have a low tolerance whereas if these settings don’t bother you could have a high tolerance.
The Auditory Sense
Our ears are switched on 24/7 – which is why it is very difficult to give the ears a rest. Hearing helps our communication processes, helps us to absorb information and learn, and also points out potential dangers just like eyesight. During the process of hearing, receptors in the ear are stimulated by airwaves and send sound waves to the brain, where the waves are interpreted. From there we react depending on the situation.
Auditory Discrimination
The abilities to hear and to modulate sensations of sound underlie our ability to really listen to sounds around us and understand their meaning. As we interact purposefully with our environment, we learn to interpret what we hear and develop sophisticated auditory discrimination skills. This is the ability to recognize similarities and differences between sounds. When we listen to music we hear its value due to the change in sound and its tune can enhance or change our mood depending on how we perceive it. Alternatively, when we hear a repetitive sound we feel agitated such as an alarm, from experience we know that this sound can mean danger and our brain can sense the stimuli unpleasant.
Do you have a high or low tolerance to noise?
Your tolerance to noise can affect your stress levels, what job or career you may choose, and if you often seek quiet environments or like to be surrounded by hustle and bustle. Do you get affected by being in a loud public space and want an escape after a bit of time or do you thrive in this environment?
Some questions to consider for your sensory threshold:
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- How much background noise can you cope with?
- Do you prefer to use earphones/headphones to reduce background noise?
- Do you find having the radio on while working distracting?
- Struggle when the children get too noisy and excited?
- Do you avoid restaurants and other places that are loud and play live music?
The answers to the above questions will depend on your unique sensory threshold for your auditory sense. Someone who can cope with loud noise or music while they work or sleep deeply and doesn’t wake easily with noise could have a high tolerance to noise, whereas someone who feels rejuvenated after being in a silent room and quickly picks up and reacts to sounds in their environment could have a low tolerance to noise.
According to Sensory intelligence.com: Whether a person has a high or low tolerance for noise, music is the one thing we have to calm an overwhelmed and overloaded auditory system. Each person has his or her preference for what works for them, but it is widely accepted that those with low thresholds to sound should choose music that will calm and organise the brain for functioning.
References:
Sensory Intelligence – Dr Annemarie Lombard
Raising Happy Children – Lizanne Du Plessis
Play Learn Know – Dr Melodie de Jager & Liz Victor
The Out-of-Sync Child – Carol Stock Kranowitz, M.A.
