sensory overload

[ sen-suh-ree oh-ver-lohd ]

noun

, Physiology, Medicine/Medical.

1. a condition of being overwhelmed by an excessive amount of such stimuli as noise, activity, the company of emotional people, etc.:

   An anxiety disorder like PTSD can make sensory overload especially easy to trigger.

Word History and Origins

Origin of sensory overload¹

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

“I had a sensory overload and started losing the ability to see,” Liam told the BBC's Access All podcast.

From BBC

Its pink adobe façade rises unexpectedly over a nondescript shopping plaza, while inside visitors are greeted by a sensory overload: 30-foot waterfalls, neon light-adorned palm trees, wandering mariachis and the faint aroma of fried food and nostalgia.

From Salon

It sits squarely before a 20-foot-tall LED wall, a study in sensory overload, showing every NFL broadcast at once.

From Los Angeles Times

“We’ve already discussed how this garden has brought me closer to my community,” she said, “and then there’s just the benefit to my own health, relieving stress and anxiety by working outside pulling and weeding and stretching and just being in the garden, using all my senses and making my observations of hummingbirds and butterflies.... It’s definitely sensory overload, but in the best way possible.”

From Los Angeles Times

The music is brought to life through a cinematic production that has few parallels in modern concert presentation, creating sensory overload through large-scale visuals, bursts of fire, canopies of lasers, confetti cannons, and — what has become the duo’s live signature — an epic drumline that provides percussive wallop and eye-popping entertainment.

From Los Angeles Times