The majority of kids with autism find certain sounds painfully distressing. They’re often forced to choose between comfort and full participation, but a new technological solution is poised to change that.
When Michelle Auton’s son Connor was around 12 years old, a routine trip to the grocery store became a memorably difficult moment. “There was a loud, piercing beeping noise, and he couldn’t cope,” recalls the British Columbia-based behaviour analyst. “He was so upset that he couldn’t recognize we were telling him we could leave.” In the end, he found relief when his parents carried him out of the shop, leaving the groceries behind.
Connor, now an adult, has autism. He uses a tablet with a touch-chat app to communicate, and Michelle helps to advocate for him as well. Like an estimated 50 to 70 per cent of people on the spectrum, he’s hypersensitive to certain sounds. This phenomenon, known as decreased sound tolerance or sound sensitivity, can be very distressing and debilitating.
Some people describe it as a sensation akin to physical pain, according to Dr. Michelle Schmidt, the executive director of Autism Community Training, a nonprofit in Burnaby, BC. “And the way that people respond to the stimuli is going to differ,” she explains. “But in kids, it often manifests in covering the ears, crying out, engaging in ‘stimming’ or even eloping from a particular environment.”
Coping strategies exist. When Connor was in elementary school, his teachers let him exit the room whenever he experienced sensory overwhelm. Some children carry earplugs or headphones to mute the soundscape as needed. But these tactics prevent kids from hearing important sounds such as the teacher’s voice, and they interfere with their full participation in activities. “Being able to leave the classroom isn’t the ideal solution when your friends and your potential learnings are in it,” emphasizes Michelle Auton.
A Kids Brain Health Network-funded team based at Simon Fraser University is addressing this barrier by developing a wearable, artificial intelligence-powered app that can mask or filter out whichever specific noises the user finds aversive, while leaving the rest of the soundscape intact. Ultimately, this technology aims to empower people with decreased sound tolerance and their families to live their lives freely and comfortably.
“I would be thrilled to see families using the app to improve their access to recreational activities that they normally wouldn’t partake in, like going to the movies, a hockey game or the mall,” says Dr. Elina Birmingham, one of the project’s two principal investigators. “And I want to see kids using it to be included in a regular classroom. Those are the kind of goalposts we and our partners have in mind.”
