Auditory Problems in Autism
Anyone who has attended one of my presentations knows that it is my opinion that sensory issues are a big part of behavior problems in children with autism. I, myself, have many sensory issues, and one that affects me the most is hearing/sound.
When I was a child, the ringing of the school bell hurt my ears; it felt like a dentist's drill hitting a nerve. This is common among the autism population. The sounds that are most likely to hurt the ears are high-pitched, shrill, intermittent sounds, such as fire alarms, smoke detectors, certain ring tones on mobile phones, or the screech of feedback from a microphone. Once a child experiences the pain associated with certain sounds, he is not soon to forget it. Subsequently, a child may have a tantrum and refuse to enter a certain room because he may be afraid that the fire alarm might go off, or that the assembly microphone might screech again. Even if it happened months and months ago, and even if it only happened one time, he may take action to avoid feeling that pain again. Sometimes sound sensitivity can be desensitized by recording the offending sound and allowing the child to initiate the sound at gradually increasing volume. Problems with sound sensitivity are very variable. A sound that hurts the ears of one child may be attractive to another. Parents and professionals need to be good detectives and watch for dues from the child about what auditory sounds are troublesome.
Temple Grandin "The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism & Asperger's" (2011)
