![]() ![]() For this experiment, they measured skin conductance – the response of sweat glands on the hand – in children with and without autism. Other researchers wanted to see how children’s autonomic nervous systems, which control largely involuntary actions, reacted to noise. ![]() Meanwhile, another subgroup had trouble determining the loudness of a tone those teens also had more problems coping with noise in everyday life. About 20 percent of them had exceptional pitch, the ability to distinguish one musical tone from another. ![]() However, they made interesting discoveries when they divided the teens with ASD into subgroups based on their differences from each other. They found that most teens with autism did not differ from typically developing teens in the ability to discriminate between sounds overall. Is there something different about the way people with autism hear or process sound?Ī group of British researchers wondered if teenagers with autism were more sensitive to the pitch, loudness and duration of sounds than other teens. Researchers have tried to measure and quantify the sensory symptoms common to autism, using parent surveys, skin conductance tests, hearing exams and brain scans. Some suspect that sensory problems may be triggers for other behaviors often found in autism, such as extremely picky eating habits 12 or even wandering. Or he may find certain sounds, lights, or textures to be severely distracting or uncomfortable. He may be unable to filter out irrelevant noises or sights, such as, in the previous example, the microwave or flickering light. Someone with autism may process information from their senses differently. You also tune out the sound of a siren outside, but when you smell and see thick smoke, you and your boss respond to that “sensory input” and leave the building. However, your brain filters out those sights and sounds so you can focus on what your boss is saying. A florescent light flickers overhead, a co-worker laughs in the next cubicle, and a microwave whirrs in the break room. Example: Your boss comes to your cubicle to talk. Auditory sensory overload how to#Think of your brain and nervous system as a controller, taking in information from your senses, deciding what’s important, and choosing how to react. Rogers and Ozonoff called “sensory dysfunction.” 6 In the last decade, other studies have sought to advance our understanding of what Drs. ![]() That’s because the studies they reviewed used different methods, tested different things, and relied on different scientific standards over the decades. They found more evidence that children with autism underreact to their senses, but said they could not draw firm conclusions. Rogers and Sally Ozonoff, reviewed 75 research papers published on the subject since 1960. After all, no one single type of sensory problem is “consistently associated with ASD.” 11Ī decade ago, two prominent autism researchers, Sally J. Generally speaking, researchers have had trouble being much more specific. 5-9 Among children who took part in the Simons Simplex Collection autism research project, about 68 percent had unusual sensory interests and 65 percent were sensitive to noise. Studies say from 30 percent to more than 90 percent of people with autism either ignore or overreact to ordinary sights, sounds, smells or other sensations. Chief among them: What causes sound sensitivity in autism and what treatments work? How does this affect someone’s ability to engage in everyday life? Kanner described this phenomenon, but scientists still have many questions about it. Richard, Barbara and Virginia would be described as hypo(under)-responsive, because they barely acknowledged many sounds. Today she would be called hyper(over)-responsive to noise. In fact, that’s what Elaine did when she heard the rumble of the vacuum cleaner. It’s the image of a child with his hands covering his ears, blocking out noise. 4 These senses include sight, touch, smell, movement and taste, but for many people, the stereotypical image of autism involves the sense of hearing. Auditory sensory overload manual#Today, under- or over- reacting to one’s own senses is a symptom of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to the American psychiatric diagnostic manual published in 2013. Kanner, an American psychiatrist, created a new diagnosis for these children, some of whom had been assumed to have intellectual disability.Īmong other things, most of the children he studied shared an unusual relationship to sound – either ignoring or fearing it. These were autism’s first children, 2 described in the landmark 1943 article by Leo Kanner that gave a name and description to a disorder that now affects 1 in 68 American children. Richard, Barbara and Virginia, on the other hand, ignored sound to the point that others wondered if they were deaf. Donald was “perfectly petrified of the vacuum cleaner.” So was Elaine, who would not venture near the closet where her family’s vacuum was stored. ![]()
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