Table 1.
Items from the Sensory Gating Inventory and Their Factor Loadings Greater than 0.30
| Content | Factor Loadings | |||
| PM (α = 0.92) | D (α = 0.89) | OI (α = 0.80) | FS (α = 0.75) | |
| My hearing is so sensitive that ordinary sounds become uncomfortable. | 0.787 | |||
| There have been times when it seems that sounds and sights are coming in too fast. | 0.708 | |||
| For several days at a time I have such heightened awareness of sights and sounds that I cannot shut them out. | 0.683 | |||
| Every now and then colors seem more vivid to me than usual. | 0.681 | |||
| At times I have feelings of being flooded by sounds. | 0.680 | |||
| Sometimes it seems like someone has turned the volume up—things seem really loud. | 0.629 | |||
| I have feelings of being flooded by visual experiences, sights, or colors. | 0.591 | |||
| It seems like I take in too much. | 0.512 | 0.300 | ||
| Sometimes I find it difficult to focus on one visual sight to the exclusion of others. | 0.508 | |||
| I hear sounds but I can't make sense of them all because it's like trying to do 2 or 3 things at once. | 0.494 | |||
| It's not bad when just one person is speaking but if others join in, then I can't pick it up at all. I just can't get into tune with that conversation. | 0.468 | |||
| Sometimes I notice background noises more than usual. | 0.449 | |||
| Background noises are just as loud or louder than the main noises. | 0.448 | |||
| I can't focus on one sound or voice to the exclusion of others. | 0.413 | |||
| It seems like I hear everything at once. | 0.400 | |||
| There are days when indoor lights seem so bright that they bother my eyes. | 0.379 | |||
| At times I have trouble focusing because I am easily distracted. | 0.810 | |||
| I am easily distracted. | 0.758 | |||
| I have more trouble concentrating than others seem to have. | 0.691 | |||
| I find it hard to concentrate on just one thing. | 0.633 | |||
| It is hard to keep my mind on one thing when there's so much else going on. | 0.572 | |||
| There are times when I can't concentrate with even the slightest sounds going on. | 0.498 | |||
| I find it difficult to shut out background noise and that makes it difficult for me to concentrate. | 0.456 | |||
| When I am in a group of people I have trouble listening to one person. | 0.372 | |||
| Not only the color of things fascinates me but all sorts of little things, like markings in the surface, attract my attention, too. | 0.539 | |||
| I notice background noises more than other people. | 0.525 | |||
| Everything grips my attention even though I am not particularly interested in any of it. | 0.523 | |||
| The silliest little things that are going on interest me. | 0.494 | |||
| Maybe it's because I notice so much more about things that I find myself looking at them for a longer time. | 0.488 | |||
| I seem to hear the smallest details of sound. | 0.469 | |||
| I seem to always notice when automatic appliances turn on and off (like the refrigerator or the heating and cooling system). | 0.439 | |||
| When I'm tired sounds seem amplified. | 0.839 | |||
| It seems that sounds are more intense when I'm stressed. | 0.669 | |||
| When I am tired, the brightness of lights bothers me. | 0.664 | |||
| I cannot focus on visual images when I am tired or stressed. | 0.449 | |||
| When I am driving at night, I am bothered by the bright lights of oncoming traffic. | 0.329 | |||
Note: The refined, 36-item SGI is presented here as 4 items were later removed (see Study 3). PM, Perceptual Modulation factor; D, Distractibility factor; OI, Over-Inclusion factor; FS, Fatigue and Stress Vulnerability factor. N = 532 (Study 1). Factors were extracted using principal axis factor (PAF) analysis with Oblimin rotation. Items are presented with their loadings onto their assigned factors.