chri d. d.'s other senses

Hearing

I can't determine a note's pitch without any sort of reference (i.e., I don't have perfect pitch/absolute pitch), although there have been a few times when I felt like I could recognize just the first note in a melody (which if it's accurate (which it might not be) would imply some sort of absolute pitch that only works occasionally). I usually can tell intervals apart, and recognize music I'm familiar with (I'm not tone deaf). If there are multiple notes playing at once, I often have a hard time picking them apart, even if I can listen to a recording (with slow motion and rewinding and such). Comparing music I'm less familiar with can be hard (it's hard to keep two melodies in my head at once to compare them).

It is possible for me to voluntarily make my left ear make a clicking sound. I noticed this first one time when I was sick in middle school, and my ears were doing it on their own; when trying to figure out what caused it to happen I found I was able to control it. (I think it had also happened before this when I was well when I was drinking water.) I assume that it has to do with the same mechanism that causes ears to pop, but it doesn't actually seem to be helpful in making them pop; rather, if they need to pop, I often can't do it anymore. In some circumstances (I think when I'm sick sometimes) it will change to the right ear, or both ears will click at the same time; I'm not able to control them separately. It's also possible to make an airy sound shortly after the click.

Ears ringing:

My left ear is constantly ringing, at a super high pitch (and maybe my right ear as well, a bit?). It sounds a bit noisier than a pure sine wave somehow, not sure how exactly to describe it. The first mention of it that I can find in my journal is from 2020, and it implies that it hadn't just started, but I didn't mention it in 2011-2012 when I was writing the first version of this document, so it might not have been happening then. I can usually ignore it, but there have been times when it was bothering me a lot.
Separately, occasionally one ear will randomly start ringing (i.e., register a frequency that isn't actually there), which then fades away within a few seconds. The sound is high-pitched, but lower pitch than the constant ringing. When this happens, I usually perceive any background noise in that ear (and maybe other sounds?) as suddenly becoming quieter.

Things that are unpleasant:

There seems to be some sort of intermittent tendency for certain types of sounds to bother my ears physically (mostly I've noticed it with music, even music that I otherwise enjoy). I think certain types of synthesizers might be particularly bad (including synthesizers that I've programmed, e.g. in my game jam games; I'm not sure how to fix it). It may have something to do with high frequencies. I don't know what causes it, and the same exact recording may have different effects at different times. There have been a few times when the sound of things like Sharpies on paper bothered me (e.g. in Numberphile videos, if I remember correctly), but other times it's perfectly fine.
There are some times when sounds are unpleasant in a different way, which I think is related to them being distracting, and that being unpleasant when they're not what I'm trying to listen to. This is less of an issue if I'm in public, and more of an issue if I'm at home (I need some time without these sounds). Talking (including from the TV being on in another room, though maybe not the noise at restaurants) and beeping and banging/pounding (construction work, woodpeckers) are problems for this, but white noise–like things (e.g., fans, cars outside, waves on the ocean, refrigerator hum) are usually okay (and I can tune those things out easily). I think for music it depends; being related to what I'm doing and/or being something I'm in control of probably helps; I think large dynamic ranges, staccatos, and lyrics make it worse; people practicing music in the same house as me is an issue. Volume doesn't usually affect this that much (muffled talking is still often bad, loud fans are still usually okay).
Sounds coming in one ear but not the other can bother me in some way (happens when headphones are broken). I'm not sure about the details. (I think this didn't used to happen.)

Smell

I'm usually not smelling anything. That is, I'm usually seeing something (unless it's extremely dark, there's usually some object in my view), I'm often hearing some sort of ambient noise (like a fan or something), I can usually feel some sort of floor or chair or bed or something, but for smells there's usually just a lack of sensation unless there's something particularly smelly around. Also, most people don't have a smell to me.

I've known at least one person who (from what I understand) didn't like being around any smells, and I don't think I'm that kind of person.

I generally consider this sense to be weak and somewhat untrustworthy. I don't always smell things, and when I smell something that I don't already know is there, my first thought is usually "is this real?".

There have been occasions when I smell something (often food) that isn't there, and continue smelling it the same amount regardless of where I go (usually lasts about a day or less).

Taste (and other senses while eating)

(This is not sufficient for someone wanting to get me food to know what to get me. It's intended more as just one data point for what sorts of food issues exist.)

I have some issues with food, which I think are mostly texture-related (although there might be something else going on, too? I think adding flavors can in some cases help):

A general rule seems to be crispy good, mushy bad. This seems to apply fairly straightforwardly to potatoes (chips (crisps) good, French fries usually good but sometimes thicker or less crisp ones are bad, mashed bad). Bread and bready things are usually okay unless a liquid has soaked into them (e.g. no cereal with milk; cereal with milk also looks gross to me when other people are eating it), and there's something a bit bad about the texture of whole wheat bread.
I have issues with some meat. I tend not to like dishes that are just a chunk of (cooked) meat, with maybe some stuff around it, but lunch meat and sausages are often good, and chicken with some sort of sauce (e.g. barbecue or buffalo) is often fine. (That is, something usually has to be done to the meat to add flavor and/or change its texture.) Also ham is generally better than other meats. Crispy good also applies here (bacon, cupped pepperoni), though it isn't necessary.
I have issues with some cheese but I'm not sure what exactly is going on there.
I usually don't have issues with fruits, vegetables, or nuts that I've tried (though there are some exceptions and some cases where I have some other issues).

I'm not exactly sure what my spice tolerance is; I think it's somewhere around "medium", maybe "mild" (it also seems to sometimes vary randomly). I like some spiciness, but not a lot. Pepper jack cheese is good, pepperoni is good, when places have buffalo wings without an option for spiciness that's usually good, pepperoncini slices in a sandwich good; jalapeños by themselves bad but I'm not sure about when they're in something else. Spiciness feels painful to the inside of my mouth (which I understand is normal), and also spicy things make my nose run (including capsaicin-based spicy things, but bell peppers don't).

Things that, in my understanding, are supposed to be spicy (because of posts about people not knowing they had allergies):

hot peppers (but bell peppers aren't spicy at all) (for me, anything that's very spicy usually has hot peppers)
black pepper (for me I only notice this if I'm eating it by itself)
onions (for me it's mild and I only notice it if I'm eating it by itself)
radishes
some mustard
at least some cinnamon (for me, most things I eat that have cinnamon don't taste spicy; my understanding is that some things that have cinnamon are supposed to be hot and other things aren't)
I think horseradish and wasabi (but I haven't tried either enough to know if I'd find it spicy)
anything containing at least one of the things above as an ingredient
from what I understand, no culinary fruits or nuts are supposed to be spicy

I don't like carbonated drinks (they feel painful on my tongue, and I don't like that).

Controversial/often-disliked flavors:

I think I like licorice. At least I remember liking black jelly beans (though I haven't had them recently). I've heard at least some licorice-flavored things use anise instead, so it's possible anise is what I actually like and I haven't tried actual licorice. (And I like fennel. So at least I know that I don't dislike licorice-like flavors in general.)
I usually like mint, though sometimes (but not always) my brain decides "this tastes like toothpaste" and I like it a bit less then. I'm not sure what determines that. (I don't know if this flavor is often-disliked in general; I'm putting this here because I've seen at least one autistic person say they don't like mint.)
I like coconut.
White chocolate > milk chocolate >> dark chocolate. Also I've eaten Hershey's chocolate all my life and have never thought it tasted like vomit.

Touch/feeling

Pressure

I can usually touch ordinary objects without it being unpleasant. That is, while I have texture issues for eating, I don't usually otherwise have texture issues. However, occasionally I'll get some weird feeling in my hand and then everything will feel unpleasant to touch.

There is a feeling that I get in my eyes sometimes, which I associate with the translucent-line thing, that I interpret as my tears forming a bubble between my eyelashes. I can get this feeling to suddenly (but temporarily) go away sometimes by opening my eyes further. The times I've looked in a mirror I was unable to see any bubble, but sometimes (not always) there was an eyelash from the top of my eye stuck between two at the bottom of my eye, or vice versa.

I don't know that I have sensory issues with touching humans, but I have sensory issues at least sometimes with being touched (some types of touch seem rough and therefore painful to me, and surprising touch might be an issue) and non-sensory issues with touching humans (fear of how they'll react/that it won't be allowed/that they won't like it/how it'll be interpreted).

Temperature

When I was younger I tended to prefer hot weather and hot places (I liked the feeling of getting into a car that had been in the sun). At some point around when I was in college, there started being hot days in the summer that have bothered me, and ever since then, each summer has had many days that were unpleasantly hot to me; I don't know if that's because of a change in me, or the climate, or how good the AC is in buildings I spend time in. At some point in college, I noticed that the cutoff for when I want a coat when walking to class was around 55°F (12.7°C), and I think it's similar now.

Pain

I get sinus headaches sometimes. As far as I know I've never had a migraine.

Other

There is a distinct feeling (not sure what it is, but something about the air) that I sometimes get when I first get out of the car on a mountain, after previously being lower. I've assumed that it's air pressure–related, though I'm not sure (it's possible that being quiet has something to do with it). I don't notice decreases in elevation in the same way.

Balance/motion

There have been times when I felt like I wasn't moving when I actually was (both times when walking or moving in a vehicle felt like the world was going past me, and other times when things like quick head movements felt weird in a way that I think was not fully feeling the motion). This seems to be associated with derealization (not sure if it's a trigger, an effect caused by it, or both). (It's weird that I haven't heard of this happening for other people, or any name for it, even though I've heard of the opposite, i.e., feeling like the room is spinning when it isn't.)

However, I don't remember having issues actually keeping my balance, at least in typical situations (as in, I don't remember ever falling down or anything from balance issues, although I've never tried, like, tightrope walking or anything).

There have been times when after I got off a plane I've felt like I was on a ship, moving up and down. (I only remember noticing this going away from home, in bed at a hotel, but I think it's happened multiple times.)

I don't really get motion sickness. Things like reading in a moving vehicle I don't think I've ever had a problem with. I'm not sure if I don't get it at all, or only get it weakly; there might have been some times when I've felt mildly sick to my stomach but not enough to throw up, and it's possible I would get motion sickness from some type of motion I haven't experienced yet (e.g. some sort of extreme ride, or VR).

Direction

I have some sense of which absolute direction is which (i.e. my brain subconsciously tries to keep track of which way is north, south, etc.), though it isn't very good. My perception of a particular place can change based on this sense of direction (e.g., my memory of my first visit to my high school looks different from later times I went there, and I suspect part of it is because the earlier memory is rotated 90° from the later memories).

Certain things can cause that sense to turn around (e.g., turning too many times, curved roads, sometimes being in unfamiliar places). Sometimes it's consistently different in certain places (e.g., my dorm room in college "felt" like it was facing the opposite direction from what it actually was).

The "primary" direction in my house and around parts of my city that I'm most familiar with is west (like, that's the direction my mental compass points, and that's the direction that's "up" on my mental map, sort of). (I think this is at least partly due to a superstition I had in middle school, related to derealization, where I wanted to avoid walking straight west.) When I'm farther away from home the "primary" direction is sometimes something else (often north, I think).

Closest things I experience to synaesthesia

To my knowledge, I don't have synaesthesia.

There may be some slight visual movement → audio thing, where sudden changes or repeated motion in something visual (primarily animated GIFs or blinking things) kind of feel like they're making faint white noise–like sounds that change pitch in time with the motion. However, it's fairly weak (and not clearly outside my imagination), and it sometimes feels like I'm subconsciously making the sounds by adjusting my breathing slightly.

As a kid, I had some association between a few letters and certain colors, but I don't think it's the same thing as synaesthesia. Rather, there were some kids' toys (e.g. letter-shaped fridge magnets) and similar things (I think a decorated dish meant for children) that had letters in different colors; looking back, I think I assumed that there was some culturally agreed-upon coloring for those sorts of things, where everyone who did that sort of thing made A red, B blue, C yellow, and then I didn't know most of the rest of the alphabet but did assume the rest of the letters did have colors.

Other senses

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