Journal
HONG KONG JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
Volume 28, Issue -, Pages 24-32Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.hkjot.2016.09.001
Keywords
auditory hyper-reactivity; autism spectrum disorder; earmuff; noise-cancelling headphone
Categories
Funding
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [21500473]
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [21500473] Funding Source: KAKEN
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Objective/Background: The 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). Methods: Twenty-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. Results: Four 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). Conclusion: This study demonstrated the effectiveness of standard earmuffs and NC headphones in helping children with ASD to cope with problem behaviours related to hyper-reactivity to auditory stimuli, therefore, children with ASD could use earmuffs to help to deal with unpleasant sensory auditory stimuli. Copyright (C) 2016, Hong Kong Occupational Therapy Association. Published by Elsevier (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available