How do you deal with the stress of such sensitive hearing? I myself am very pitch sensitive, to the point that a dog whistle will give me headaches when blown around me.
Headaches caused by high-pitched noises are an unfortunate side-effect of sensitive hearing. I usually take some of Nynaeve’s herbs to deal with the pain if it’s too intense, though thankfully that doesn’t happen very often. Most of the times, it makes my hair stand on end and my skin feel prickly and odd for a while until I manage to settle down some.
I have a way of dealing with it some might find… unconventional… but effective, that has roots back to my days of being an apprentice blacksmith. Master Luhhan and I would often stuff small wads of wax in our ears to protect them from the constant ringing of hammers. Nothing special, just wax that had been rounded and smoothed out to fit your ear comfortably. It’s sometimes difficult to remove them afterwards, but it’s better than nothing.
So when I know I’ll be going someplace where people are fond of shouting — like the Saldaean court — I return to my old habit. I can still hear what they say just fine with a little bit of wax in my ears, but at least their voices no longer sound as shrill as birds squawking.