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Okay, do me a favor for a second.

Think of the busiest public space in your city or town.

How do you feel when you're there?

For some of us, these busy spaces are energizing, the rush of people, the noise of the crowds, the sounds of the cityscape. It can be

appealing to a certain type of person, but for others, the crowds and the noise can be a little

much.

And for some neurodivergent people, especially those with sensory issues, being in

these public spaces can be completely overwhelming, harmful even.

And that's a problem when you want to or need to use these spaces just like everybody else.

Today on All in the Mind, we have something a little different for you.

Audio engineer and producer Amelia Geiss is taking you inside their mind for a first-hand perspective

of what it's like to move through public spaces as

someone with sound sensitivities. And we'll learn more about how these sensitivities

manifest in the brain, strategies for managing them, and new approaches to designing public

spaces for better inclusivity and accessibility. Here's Amelia.

One of the first noises I remember being terrified of was the sound of water going down the bathtub drain.

As a child, I remember covering my ears and running out of the bathroom as soon as the

plug was pulled just to avoid the scream of water. To this day, this sound makes my body tense up

and my heart race. Benign as it may sound, I now understand that this response is a symptom of my autism.

My sound sensitivities went beyond having an aversion to nails on a chalkboard. I experienced a lot

of frustration and anger from the sounds that other people would make. I couldn't understand why

...