# closing your eyes when hearing a loud noise

Category: Health and Wellness

## Post 1 by nikos (English words from a Greek thinking brain) on Monday, 05-Mar-2007 8:56:07

Hi all.
I just thought of this and i was wondering if it happens to you as well. Do you automatically close your eyes when hearing a loud noise for example a gun or something?
It happens to me and i find it really strange especially for us blind people. If there is anything we should close it would be our ears lol.

## Post 2 by sugar (Entertain me. I dare you.) on Monday, 05-Mar-2007 9:11:46

hmm, not so much a loud noise, but a noise I don't like

## Post 3 by OrangeDolphinSpirit (Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how popular it remains?) on Monday, 05-Mar-2007 19:39:09

Hmm, I don't think I do it for loud noises, but for some reason, just before I think I'm about to slam into something, like a pole, I'll shut my eyes and wait for the impact. LOL. And sometimes I don't even slam into anything, so I don't know ... it's a weird reflex.

## Post 4 by Nem (I just keep on posting!) on Tuesday, 06-Mar-2007 3:11:14

This should help those of us who doubt the normality of blindies. The closing of your eyes when you hear loud noises, or about to run into something is indeed a reflex. The eyes don't just close, rather they close tightly. This is a muscle contraction. Caused in part to the increase of adrenaline into the blood stream. You can be trained to control this reflex but you cannot get rid of it. Even police officers and military personnel who are around firearms still blink at the sound of the gun shot if nothing else . It is the body trying to protect the eyes. One will find that if they are not aware of someone sneaking up behind them, when they jump their shoulders come up and their shoulder blades move towards the spine. This is another reflex. Same with the groin and throat. The body is amazing. The eyes may not work but the brain still knows that they are there and need protection.

## Post 5 by Nem (I just keep on posting!) on Tuesday, 06-Mar-2007 3:12:51

Check out the autonomic nervous system. You'd be amazed.

## Post 6 by nikos (English words from a Greek thinking brain) on Tuesday, 06-Mar-2007 4:11:27

Thanks Nem. Very usefull information.

## Post 7 by Shadow_Cat (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Wednesday, 07-Mar-2007 2:53:00

Geez, Nem, sometimes I think you're a walking encyclopedia! *Grin* Well, since I have no eyes to close, because mine are artificial, I think my reflexes work a bit differently. When I hear a loud noise, I turn my head very quickly in that direction, and listen very hard. I'm told that if I had dog ears, you'd see them immediately prick up straight into the air. If I think I'm about to hit something, I naturally throw my head backwards, so I take the impact on my chest or somewhere else on my body. I think it's my skull and brain's way of protecting themselves from impact. I wonder, in the same vain as Nikos, does anyone else who has artificial eyes have such reflexes as I do?

## Post 8 by Reyami (I've broken five thousand! any more awards going?) on Tuesday, 20-Mar-2007 10:44:17

I haven't really thought about this before. Very interesting. um ... Well, I might blink when I hear a loud noise, but I'm so busy trying not to panic, that I don't really know if my eyes close, nor do I care. Unless someone tells me the source of the sound, I flinch. I think we all do that, though. lol

## Post 9 by changedheart421 (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Tuesday, 20-Mar-2007 11:47:33

when I hear a loud noise no matter wherre I am I close my ears. Its hard and I even have been told it is kind of unprofessional. Its a reflex I can not get rid of.

## Post 10 by Shadow_Cat (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Wednesday, 21-Mar-2007 10:56:24

You close your ears? What exactly does that look like, and how is it unprofessional? Smile.

## Post 11 by blbobby (Ooo you're gona like this!) on Wednesday, 21-Mar-2007 16:04:27

&LT;lol>.
Did you just make that up Nim?
My eyes are under developed pieces of crap but they still close when I hear a loud noise.
Also when I'm in a heavy duty mobility situation with lots of traffic and maybe overhangs etc. I squint my eyes tightly and they get really tired.
Good question Nikos.
Bob

## Post 12 by Dubstep1984 (I just keep on posting!) on Tuesday, 29-Jan-2008 15:48:19

my eyes close very tightly at loud noises. and also, when someone is doing something around my eyes, like if my friend is shaving or plucking or waxing my eyebrows, my eyes close and stay closed until she is finished.

## Post 13 by TheLeslieThing (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Friday, 01-Feb-2008 18:48:40

I do that too. whenever I here a loud noise, like a hammer or something, my eyes close really tightly. in fact, one time, I was at a track tournament, you know how some track tournaments they have that starting gun? I was at least a couple feet away from it, and every single time I'd here it, my eyes would automatically shut.
Leslie

## Post 14 by Dubstep1984 (I just keep on posting!) on Sunday, 03-Feb-2008 17:03:31

yep. that happens when i hear explosive noises such as doors slamming or guns firing.

## Post 15 by ezziejc (The Bathroom Skyper!) on Friday, 22-Feb-2008 20:43:26

hmm only thing i can think of is when someone's cutting off my fringe. Then they shut and stay shut, unless I'm worrying at the time about what people think of me while its all happening.

## Post 16 by Dubstep1984 (I just keep on posting!) on Saturday, 23-Feb-2008 0:59:43

oh wow. i really wish i knew y i close my eyes when somebody is doing something around them. i mean, when my sister was doing my makeup on the day of my cousins wedding a couple weeks ago, . it was extremely hard to not reflexively close them when she was doing the maskara, eye shaddow, and eyeliner.