Autistic people may also be able to hear sounds from inside the building – such as voices or noises from other rooms, or water in pipes and electricity in the walls. A decibel meter can be useful to support this work (now available as a phone app for those in need).
Electricity creates low-frequency vibrations that radiate as sound. While most people cannot discern these sounds due to our brain's filtering capability, neurodivergent kids can often detect these frequencies.
Electrical sounds are normal but usually quiet
However, you can't hear most of them, and some people's ears are more attuned to the sound of electricity than others. This sound is electricity itself, but the sound of alternating current moving through wires or appliances.
Hypersensitivity is having extreme sensitivity to physical senses such as sound, touch, or smell. It is also associated with being easily overwhelmed by a lot of information. Hypersensitivity is a common trait in individuals with ADHD. Being aware of your hypersensitivity can change your life.
Hypersensitive hearing of specific frequencies is often (but not always) associated with autism. A person can tolerate most sounds at normal levels, but certain frequencies are intolerable, especially above 70 decibels.
If the hairs inside your inner ear are bent or broken — this happens as you age or when you are regularly exposed to loud sounds — they can "leak" random electrical impulses to your brain, causing tinnitus.
Hyperacusis (say it with me: HY-per-uh-CUE-sis), is an increased sensitivity to sound that is commonly found among people with autism. This means that certain noises, such as classroom bells, the radio or the TV, may be uncomfortable for your child to hear.
Self-stimulatory behavior, often called “stimming,” is when a child or adult repeats specific movements or sounds as a way to self-soothe or remain engaged in a situation, often referred to as “fidget to focus.” Many people assume that only individuals with autism engage in self-stimulatory behaviors.
Sound: Many people with ADHD are hypersensitive to auditory stimulants such as multiple simultaneous conversations, loud music, fireworks, or grating noises. For these individuals, such sounds could result in a stress reaction.
For many people with ADHD, steady background noises will improve concentration and fixation on given tasks1 because it blocks out otherwise distracting and unwanted background noises. At the same time, white noise is suspected to stimulate dopamine production in the brain.
Auditory sensitivities are common among people with autism spectrum disorder diagnoses (ASD).
People whose brain works differently often experience sounds, including music, in unique ways. As a neurodivergent person, I experience sound differently than other people. I was born with hyperacusis. Sounds that are at a normal volume to most people sometimes seem extremely loud and distorted to me.
Using ceiling tiles or suspended baffles is also recommended for soundproofing and blocking as the ceiling is the most open space in a room with a large surface area. If used correctly, these can absorb both high and low frequencies.
Children with ADHD often have difficulty paying attention to the same thing for too long, and they may get distracted easily. Autistic children may have a limited scope of interest. They may seem to obsess over things that they enjoy and have difficulty focusing on things that they have no interest in.
ADHD is not on the autism spectrum, but they have some of the same symptoms. And having one of these conditions increases the chances of having the other. Experts have changed the way they think about how autism and ADHD are related.
Differences in emotions in people with ADHD can lead to 'shutdowns', where someone is so overwhelmed with emotions that they space out, may find it hard to speak or move and may struggle to articulate what they are feeling until they can process their emotions.
Executive functions have other roles which affect how someone thinks. In people with ADHD, these executive dysfunctions impact thinking in numerous ways. People with ADHD don't really think faster than people without it, but it can sometimes seem like they do.
Adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) frequently suffer from sleep problems and report high levels of daytime sleepiness compared to neurotypical controls, which has detrimental effect on quality of life.
Eye contact: Avoidance of eye contact is ADHD behaviour – your child/young person may look as if they are ignoring you but some find making eye contact really difficult. 2. Fidgeting: Not standing or sitting still or fiddling with something whilst you are talking with them, i.e. toys, cushions etc.
Many autistic people experience hypersensitivity to bright lights or certain light wavelengths (e.g., LED or fluorescent lights). Certain sounds, smells, textures and tastes can also be overwhelming. This can result in sensory avoidance – trying to get away from stimuli that most people can easily tune out.
Reacting to high pitched sounds. Most daily high-pitched sounds shouldn't cause discomfort. While many children are over-sensitive to low humming noises, other ASD children find high-pitched noises the most irritating.
In the case of vocal stimming (or verbal stimming), the child might make noises such as groaning, grunting, high- pitched screeching, squealing, humming, or repeating random words, words to a familiar song, phrases, or lines from a movie.
Drive or motor failures, lights flickering, analog signal variations and poor encoder count repeatability are all symptoms of electrical noise issues.
When you can hear sounds inside your head that are created by your hearing system, not your environment, the condition is known as tinnitus. It could be ringing, humming, pulsing or hissing. It is more prominent in quiet areas or at night. It usually has no particular cause, but can still be treated.
Allergies, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, diabetes, tumors, and head injuries can also cause tinnitus. If you have a foreign object in your ear or a build-up of ear wax, you may also experience tinnitus. In many cases, the cause of tinnitus can't be identified.