My therapist (but what does he know?) would ask about childhood. Some education "experts" will tell you that inner city/slum kids learn to 'tune out' as a necessary defense mechanism. Their environments are so noise polluted they have to be able to live above the jive. Unfortunately they can activate that skill on command at any time, like during Mr. Beagleworthy's fourth period civics class.

I on the other hand was raised by a paranoid hypochondriac father to whom every noise, orchestrated or not was a source of danger to the Universe as he knew it, and I was dutifully conditioned to follow suit. I can't tune out much of anything.

Foes of thread creep, stop reading now. The Auden thing did it--I have never understood why DJ's (may they all die lingering, painful deaths from earache) think that music has to be loud enough to stun small animals. I was totally amazed last week when I was in such a place and had someone 21 years old voice that opinion even before I did. But that is no longer 'background'--it's the only ground.