When the six senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, taste, & proprioception in any combination become stimulated so as to induce a temporary haze of brain confusion.
While simultaneously watching Letterman, talking to Roxy on the phone, eating pizza, petting the cat, and changing my position on the sofa I experienced a bout of sensory overload.
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A very serious (and highly misunderstood) symptom of Sensory Deprivation Disorder -- itself a symptom of Autism Spectrum Disorder -- where a person gets too overwhelmed by the world around them, causing extremely irrational behavior.
The most common cause is too much noise, especially the sounds of multiple people talking at once. However, one loud talker (or one loud, irritating sound) is usually enough to trigger it. When a person is going into sensory overload, they will usually exhibit signs of extreme distress, such as clutching their head to shield their eyes and/or ears. They may become extremely irritable, lashing out at just about anyone. They may also wince or flinch if it comes on suddenly.
People who suffer from it often describe the feeling as though they are being attacked, and that their mind is so clouded that they lose all rational thought. And of course, being a symptom of autism, there is no cure.
If you see someone exhibiting these symptoms, especially the wincing, you should immediately shut the fuck up and make sure everyone in the room does so too. The only way to stop a bout of sensory overload is for everything to be totally silent for about 15-30 minutes.
If you want to know what sensory overload feels like, listen to the music that plays during the Death Egg Zone in Sonic 2, before the two final bosses. Everything feels terrifying and distorted, while your mind is just trying to calm down and pretend that everything is okay when it's not.
It's a very real disorder and it deserves more attention.
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The sheer destruction of one's sensory perception by way of auditory overload. This effect is best demonstrated when one views Angrypug's stream when *original* alerts are enabled which incites a violent dono war between "Ayaya" and "Witness Me" sounds. This ear-pillaging effect is amplified further when these dono wars occur during Dead by Daylight gameplay.
Even when deafened by the violent Ayaya-Witness Me dono war which induces sensory overload, Angry Pug still plays Dead by Daylight better than console gamers. That's it. That says enough.
overwhelmed, stressed, on edge, keyed up
Working full time, taking classes and raising a family has thrown her into sensory overload mode.