Noise and autism spectrum disorder in children: An exploratory survey
Section snippets
What this paper adds
This paper investigates how educators believe the acoustical environment can be modified to influence behavior of students with autism. Empirical evidence on how students with autism respond sensitively to lighting, sound, acoustics, tactile sensations, scents, and other environmental factors is highlighted, in addition to the relationship between sound and unwanted behaviors from caregivers’ perspectives.
The study demonstrates that noise pollution may be associated with children with ASD
Participants
Ninety-five teachers from three schools for children with moderate to high functioning ASD in Houston, Texas, were approached to participate in this study. The schools used as research sites were coded as: School 1, School 2, and School 3. Twenty-six out of 30 teachers at School 1 responded (87%), 25 out of 40 teachers at School 2 responded (65%), and 24 out of 25 teachers at School 3 responded (96%). In total 74 teachers completed surveys and the overall response rate for instructors across
Environmental factors
Nearly all (95.77%) of the teachers surveyed observed children covering their ears. Most teachers indicated they strongly agree that noise control is an important issue for children with autism (79%), followed by somewhat agree (14%), strongly disagree (4%), neither agree nor disagree (1%), and somewhat disagree (1%). A chi-square test of association was performed to test the several hypotheses, and a p-value of 0.01 rather than 0.05 was used to determine significance throughout to account for
Discussion
The main purpose of this survey was to receive input from teachers of children with ASD about the impact of noise pollution on disruptive behaviors. Overall, teachers were aware of changes in behavior in response to sensitivity to noise pollution. This aligns with past research which has shown that children with ASD often engage in behaviors that might intrude on learning to regulate the noise in their environment (Stiegler & Davis, 2010). For the specific behavior of covering ears, nearly all
Conclusion
Children with autism may demonstrate unique sensory profiles that influence the way they perceive and process different stimuli in the environment (Lane, Young, Baker, & Angley, 2010). However, few researchers have carefully examined the specific ways in which the acoustic environment of a facility may be modified to accommodate such unique sensory needs. Based on data from this study, the authors have proposed several areas of consideration for future research. By modifying the built
Conflict of interest
None.
Funding source
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Financial disclosure
None.
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2023, Building and EnvironmentCitation Excerpt :A direct result can be improvements in rest and sleep [98–100]. We hypothesize that reductions in noise might also benefit those who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [101], autism spectrum disorders [102–104], and hearing impairment [105,106]. Synergistic impacts on mental health – Improvements in IAQ, ITC, and reductions in the infiltration of outdoor noise can improve rest and sleep, which can then lead to improvements in mental health [107–112].