Objective/BackgroundThe purpose of this pilot study was to examine the effectiveness of standard
earmuffs and noise-cancelling (NC) headphones in controlling behavioural
problems related to hyper-reactivity to auditory stimuli in children with
autism spectrum disorder (ASD).MethodsTwenty-one children with ASD aged 4–16 years (16 boys and 5 girls), after a
2-week nonwearing baseline period, were asked to use standard earmuffs and
NC headphones for 2 weeks, in a random order. Parents or teachers rated
participants’ behaviours that were related to their reaction to auditory
stimuli.ResultsFour participants refused to wear either the earmuffs or the NC headphones.
It was found that the T-score on the Goal Attainment Scaling was
significantly higher during the earmuff period than that in the baseline
period (Z = 2.726, p = .006). The behaviours of 5 children with ASD improved
during the NC headphone period as compared with those in the baseline
period; there were no differences in the T-scores on the Goal Attainment
Scaling between the NC headphone period and the baseline period (Z = 1.689,
p = .091) and between the earmuff and NC headphone periods (Z = −0.451, p =
.678).ConclusionThis study demonstrated the effectiveness of standard earmuffs and NC
headphones in helping children with ASD to cope with problem behaviours
related to hyperreactivity to auditory stimuli, therefore, children with ASD
could use earmuffs to help to deal with unpleasant sensory auditory
stimuli.
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