Both children and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience difficulties with sound intolerances and sensitivities as well as understanding speech, especially in difficult listening situations.
These difficulties may be associated with specific auditory dysfunction as well as higher-order processing difficulties associated with autism. Often these difficulties mimic or are similar to auditory processing difficulties (APD) and can exacerbate the stress and anxiety that both children and adults with ASD can experience in challenging listening environments. Both children and adults with ASD who exhibit listening difficulties and sound sensitivities and intolerances can benefit from specific strategies and therapies designed to strengthen and improve their auditory processing skills and sound tolerance.
People with ASD can experience difficulties understanding speech which may be associated with difficulties recognizing voice tone as well as perceiving inflections that convey meaning and imply questions because they may have difficulty with temporal processing (processing pitch, timing cues and rhythm). They may also have difficulty processing simultaneous information and as such may have difficulty with dichotic listening skills and difficulty hearing in noisy environments. Sound sensitivities and sound intolerances are also common in people with ASD due to difficulty with sensory processing and integration.
Research has shown that people with ASD can benefit from functional APD assessments followed by monitored listening programs involving auditory training for areas of specific deficit, compensatory strategies, the use of remote microphones and assistive listening technology combined with literacy and language assistance