I’ve been experimenting with putting headphones on (not playing music, just blocking noise) in situations where there is a lot of noise and it kinda helps! Although, apparently it’s not considered “socially acceptable” to wear headphones while singing along with a group of people at a youth event lol. (I did explain it to the person who was playing the music though and he said he didn’t even notice and could tell I was enjoying myself so I guess I’m good)
P.S. I don’t know if this is the kind of post we do in this community. I just felt like mentioning it
Earplugs can handle it even better. I originally bought them because I work in AV but it’s really nice to be able to just crank down all the audio in the world. A decent set of acoustic earplugs can be bought for 8 bucks at a guitar center. I highly recommend acoustic because they don’t make everything sound muffled, just quieter. If you find it helpful then you can shell out for something a bit nicer.
Even if you’re not autistic, it helps drown out the noise to hear people in a bar, it protects your hearing, and really does help with feelings of being overwhelmed. Doesn’t FIX it, but it does help.