why is it that we close our eyes when we hear very sudden loud noises nearby?

When i was very young i went through a stage of about a year where i would hear a high pitched noise in my ears at night time. this noise would get progressivly louder intill you could not mentally or physically take it anymore, it was the worst thing i have ever experienced. it was like the noise you hear in your ears after you have heard very loud music but this was much worse. a constant ringing in my ear that got really loud. i also got delirious at times where people seamed thurther away than what they actually was and at other times the texture on my hands felt like what i can discribe as playdough and you can feel the texture in your mouth. a really horrific sensation i dont know why, the last time i had that was about a year ago but the noises in my ears was about 10 years ago. i also remember my dad saying something to me and his noise kept repeating in my head....

i am not physically or mentally disabled in anyway, i have never encoutered something like this and have never got the answer to why this happened to me. i remember going camping and came back with a high tempreture when i was younger and i thought this started it off due to a viral infection, i could not find any other plausable reason why i suffered with this.

I found that when I blew out a candle it made a noise... or maybe it was my breath that made the noise, but the noise only happens when the flame goes or is going out. I also find that my stove makes the same noise when I turn it on. 

How comes that, when the wind comes from the railway, I can hear the trains much better. I understand that it should reduce the effective distance of the railway, but the wind is usually not over 50 km/h, very small compared to the speed of sound (1200 km/h), so the effect should be tiny.

The hot water in my house takes a moment to come through when turning on a tap or the shower.  While heating up, the noise of the water hitting the sink etc changes pitch as it changes from cold to hot.  Why is this?

I read that spectactors watching a space shuttle launch have to be at least several miles away in order to avoid injury from the noise generated by the launch. The article went on to say that standing closer to the launch pad could result in severe injury, even death from the noise. Now I wonder how could noise kill a human being? And has this ever happebned before?

How is the space shuttle crew protected from this lethal noise during the subsonic launch phase?

A single Formula 1 car passing by makes a noise of around 110 decibels.

Last year I went to a Formula 1 Grand Prix and sat near the start line, where 20 cars left the grid at once.

The noise was mind-numbing, much louder than a single car, but not 20 times louder (or 2200 decibels, an unachievable figure). Why wasn't it?

Walter Coppin, Edinburgh, UK

(Image: stempl01, stock.xchng)