Eli5: Why are peoples’ own noises and smells usually dialed down, such as not being affected by their own snoring and not noticing their body odor?

Question

Why does the brain seems to dial down things that we produce; even the obnoxious snoring or noises made while sleeping don’t affect us? Similarly, people don’t usually get annoyed by their own talking or yelling to themselves.

In: Other

Answer 1

You have to live with yourself all the time. If you were constantly focusing on how you smelled, talked, acted, etc, etc, you would quickly find your own existence barely tolerable.

You get used to the sounds and smells you make and your brain starts filtering them out, because paying attention to your surroundings is more important for survival.