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INSIDE PERSPECTIVES of AS & Neurodiversity |
AUDITORY PROCESSING DIFFERENCES
Among the most common problems for autistic and other sensitive people is to have hearing- or auditory processing differences. Some examples:
· Super-sensitive hearing. Being born with super-acute hearing may be not be a disorder at all but a modest ‘super-power’ - although it can of course be very frazzling on the nerves to hear so much more than others, in a world where perfect silence is practically non-existent. If it comes with general sensitivity to other sensory impressions, it is very likely a sign of just being a Highly Sensitive Individual, which is a natural genetic variation.
“If I was trying to go to sleep and the television in the basement was on, even if the sound was off or no channel was being shown, I'd still be able to hear the high-frequency noise from it all the way from upstairs in my room. I'd go downstairs and turn that TV off, along with a fluorescent light that buzzed for some reason.” - ‘NeantHumain’, male Aspie from USA
If hyper-acusis occurs suddenly later in life, it may be an imbalance due to stress, illness, brain injury, ear infection etc., though probably more likely to happen to someone who already has above average sensibility to begin with. Tesla experienced this when stressing himself out at his first real job with the Budapest telephone company:
“What I experienced during the period of the illness surpasses all belief. My sight and hearing were always extraordinary. I could clearly discern objects in the distance when others saw no trace of them. Several times in my boyhood I saved the houses of our neighbors from fire by hearing the faint crackling sounds which did not disturb their sleep, and calling for help. In 1899, when I was past forty and carrying on my experiments in Colorado, I could hear very distinctly thunderclaps at a distance of 550 miles. My ear was thus over thirteen times more sensitive, yet at that time I was, so to speak, stone deaf in comparison with the acuteness of my hearing while under the nervous strain.
- Nicola Tesla, Hungarian-American inventor, in his autobiography My Inventions
· Difficulty filtering out background sounds, e.g. in a class-room, at the cinema, or when having a conversation in a restaurant, party, mall or other public place. Two or more simultaneous conversations at the dinner table may also be a problem. Such a filtering difficulty is not at all strange if one has extra well-developed hearing... Yes, it can really be that simple! I’m sure that if someone with normal hearing would get a hearing aid and turn the volume way up, they too would find it very hard to filter out any of the massive collection of noises bombarding the ears at all times. This is what it’s like to have super-sensitive hearing.
“I find it almost impossible to hear someone speak to me (even if they are right in front of me and are talking loud) when there is a lot of other background noise. I find myself reading their lips to try to ‘hear’ them. I feel like I am the only one with this issue... everyone around me can carry on conversations despite the noise - it seems to have zero impact on them.” - Dan, adult Aspie
“I have a difficult time concentrating on one person at a party. It seems that everything filters in from all directions. I can only focus on one person for a short amount of time before I have to move on because of all the distractions.” - Anne Marie, adult ADHD/Aspie from USA
“I have trouble filtering out background noise. I cannot stand the ticking of clocks and try to avoid them. Even my radio alarm clock has an annoying buzz which I have reduced by putting a folded towel under it. My computer has a constant noise, mostly a contended noise that I have gotten used to - I recognise it’s different noises, but I cannot filter them out.” - Julie, adult Aspie from England
· Difficulty decoding & recollecting verbally delivered information, especially several in a sequence. Difficulty discriminating between similar sounding words. This can be either a real hearing- or auditory processing disability, or simply being a visual-spatial or tactile learner.
“I am a visual learner and find I need to picture a word in my mind in order to understand it. I hear words, but my brain then needs to visualize them in order to process them. I have been regarded as 'slow' because of this, but it is just a different way of learning.” - Kitty, adult Aspie
· Sound sensitivity variations. Only hearing or enjoying certain frequencies/types of sound and being extra bothered by others. Or having super-acute hearing sometimes and appearing almost deaf at other times. This I find more likely to be a real auditory processing difference.
“I hate talking on the cell phone!! Wrong sound, weird sound... I usually turn it off when it rings and send a text message instead, with the sound turned off! The click-sound drives me crazy, odd but little sounds are worse than loud ones. I love listening to Velvet Underground, Clash, Metallica etc., which get on other people’s nerves?” - Janet, mother with ADHD from Sweden
“Sometimes I just don't hear people when they say something to me, and they take me as being rude.” - ‘NeantHumain’, male Aspie from USA
Though sometimes the easy explanation is that the person is so absorbed by some especially fascinating train of thought or activity of interest that s/he is temporarily oblivious of the rest of the world. If so, this may indicates a super-ability to hyperfocus and/or being in an altered state.
Males (and possibly women with male type brains?) tend to only use one hemisphere at a time when solving a problem or executing a task, so the hemisphere that processes language may just be’ offline’ at that particular moment. To not immediately respond to the voice of a parent, wife or teacher when engaged in something need therefore not necessarily be a hearing disorder or being deliberately neglectful or disrespectful; it may just be the way that person is wired.
AUDITORY INTEGRATION TRAINING
Not having tried any of the so-called Sensory Integration Techniques and knowing very few who has, I’m really not in a position to make a judgement about it. But my personal, subjective impression from just reading about them is that the Berard Auditory Integration Training sounds reasonably safe and sound, based on theories & methods that seem logical, balanced and non-intrusive. There has also been some studies made on this method.
“Individuals with [autism, pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), central auditory processing disorder (CAPD), attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), dyslexia, hyperactivity, language impairments, and learning disabilities (LD)] can often have hearing which is disorganized, erratic, asymmetrical, hypersensitive, or otherwise abnormal.
“Some of these affected individuals are hypersensitive to certain frequencies of sound. For example, one individual might be hypersensitive to the frequencies of 1,000 and 8,000 Hertz while perception of all other frequencies falls within the normal range. In this case, the individual might become overstimulated, disoriented or agitated in the presence of sounds at 1,000 and 8,000 Hertz.”
Whereas the info on the Tomatis Method website raises many red flags in my mind, some of which I’ve felt compelled to comment here:
Tomatis website: “Good learners are good listeners.”
My comment: Visual or tactile learners can be good learners too, if the info is delivered in a manner suitable to their learning style.
“Good learners are right ear dominant. Many poor learners are left ear dominant.”
Many with left ear dominance are right brain dominant and only have a different learning style.
“Good listeners push irrelevant stimuli to the background.”
No they don’t. Their brains and bodies are able to do this automatically because they’re simply not as sensitive.
“Good listeners focus and concentrate.”
They are able to focus and concentrate. So are visual and tactile learners if taught something they’re interested in, and in a way that suits their preferred mode of learning.
“Good listeners do not feel disturbed by the bombardment of sensory information we all get.”
Because they are simply not as sensitive.
“Good listeners sort and organize the relevant information into meaningful hierarchies. Poor listeners, on the other hand, don't have the ability to ‘zoom out’, filter out irrelevant information. Poor listeners have only one defensive against this continuous bombardment of information: to tune out. That is what ADD children and adults do.”
Because they are more sensitive and can’t stand too much sensory input. Perfectly healthy self-preservation instinct. Simple solution: cease the painful over-stimulation.
“Hypersensitivity to sound”
“So, why are they hypersensitive to sounds? The reason lays in the way we listen. We all listen both with our ears and with our bodies. Our skin and our bones are excellent sound conductors. Our whole body responds to sounds. However, unlike most people, many autistic children (and adults) listen predominantly with their bodies. Sounds picked up by the body go directly to the brain, without being filtered. That means that the irrelevant background noise is not filtered out. So, many autistic people are continuously assaulted with sounds.”
Some of this may be correct, except probably the part about sound going directly to the brain which sounds like an unfounded speculation.
Sounds = vibrations. Vibrations will hurt the body of a super-sensitive person - or animal - because it is so sensitive. Sound vibrations hurt whether one ‘listens’ with one’s ears or not. If one tries to actively avoid listening with one’s ears (e.g. by covering them) it is because sounds hurt the ears. Often the vibrations hurt both the body and the ears.
This is something RSPCA and dedicated wild-life conservationists should keep in mind when rescuing and relocating tame and wild animals with a truck, tractor, boat, plane or helicopter - they have no idea how much extra physical torture they’re needlessly subjecting the poor animal too, on top of the shock of being moved and possible pain from injury! Ask an autistic - we know.
“Many autistic people do not have the ability to filter out background noise and tune in to what really matters.”
Correct - assuming that the conversation is what ‘really matters’ to this particular person. Sometimes the background music is more important.
“If my favourite music is played i ignore people and just listen to the music in my own little world.” :-) - John, adult dyslexic Aspie from UK
“So, when we work with autistic people that are hypersensitive to sounds, our first goal is to desensitize the bone conduction response, and make their ears to become the main entrance to sounds. We'll do it by having them listen to gated music through a special headphone that is equipped with a vibrator. Through the vibrator they'll listen with their bodies, at the same time as they listen with their ears. The "music" is coming first to the vibrator, and several milliseconds later to the ears. Over time, our clients will adjust to listening primarily with their ears. Desensitizing the bone conduction reduces the hypersensitivity to sounds. It may appear paradoxical to use sounds to desensitize someone who is sensitive to sounds, but it is an efficient, gentle and non-intrusive way to begin to alleviate some of the problems that come with autism.”
This sounds anything but gentle, but not having tried it myself I’ll refrain from having an opinion about the procedure. One can only hope that no child is forced to go through it against their will.
“Making you Right-Ear Dominant”
“To the surprise of many, we each have a dominant ear. Some are right-ear dominant. Others are left-ear dominant. The advantage in being right-ear dominant is that the right ear processes the incoming auditory information faster than the left ear. Therefore, people who are right ear dominant are more likely to pay better attention.”
Only to verbally delivered instructions.
“The right ear processes information faster because it sends the information directly to the left brain, which specializes in processing language.”
Women have language processing centres in both hemispheres...
“However, the left ear sends the information to the right brain, which cannot process language. The information has thus to be rerouted to the left brain via the Corpus Callosum. Because that’s a longer pathway, the information is delayed. Left-ear-dominant people thus have to play catch-up all the time. Not only is the information late, it is also incomplete. In the transfer from the right brain to the left brain, some of the higher frequencies are lost. As we have seen before, these are the frequencies that are key to distinguish similar sounds (like a B and a P). Left-ear-dominant people thus not only have to play catch-up, they also have to play with an incomplete deck.”
But if one is right-brain dominant, it works very well with having a left-ear dominance, especially if taught in a way that suits one’s learning style.
“The Tomatis Listening Program helps people with [dyslexia] ADD and ADHD achieve better right-ear dominance. Towards the end of the program, we'll gradually shift the sounds from the left ear to the right ear. You'll also do some reading exercises through a microphone coupled with our electronic equipment. We'll filter your voice and return it exclusively to your right ear. It will teach you to listen to yourself and develop self-listening skills, which people with [dyslexia], ADHD and ADD often lack. Over time, you'll become right ear dominant, making it easier for you to pay attention.”
To try and force a naturally left-eared person to become right-eared, sounds just as absurd and abusive as forcing a left-handed person to become right-handed!
I hope the practitioners of this method will realize that they have no right to do this to anyone but informed and consenting adults who realize the full implication of what this would mean if successful. I’ve had anecdotal reports of people feeling very ‘off’ for a long time after such a procedure... I would not recommend taking that risk.
links
Auditory Processing Disorder Wikipedia
Probable Causes for Hypersensitivity to Sound from AIT Institute
The Efficacy of Auditory Integration Training review of studies on Berard type AIT
Debbie Thorsos autistic artist with APD |