Effectiveness of Earmuffs and Noise-cancelling Headphones for Coping with Hyper-reactivity to Auditory Stimuli in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Preliminary Study.
Nobuhiko Ikuta, Ryoichiro Iwanaga, Akiko Tokunaga and 3 others
PMID 30186064WHAT IT FOUND
For children with autism spectrum disorder, earmuff use was linked to better individual behaviour goal scores than no device.
Noise-cancelling headphones did not show the same result, and several children refused devices. Results are preliminary.
Key findings
01Earmuff use was associated with significantly higher individual behaviour goal scores than the control period.
02Noise-cancelling headphone scores did not differ significantly from control, and earmuff scores did not differ significantly from headphone scores.
03Five children improved during the noise-cancelling headphone period, but five refused or discontinued headphones. Only 12 children were compared during that period.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Only 16 children were analysed for earmuffs and 12 for noise-cancelling headphones, and several children refused or stopped using devices. The study did not examine long-term effects or adverse effects, including whether habitual sound isolation may worsen sensitivity. Age, sex, intelligence, functional level, intervention frequency, and device use duration were not controlled. Children used devices for different amounts of time and in different settings. The study does not show a standard dose. The study did not test earplugs or headphones without noise cancellation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume noise-cancelling headphones and earmuffs work the same way. Earmuff scores were higher than control scores, but headphone scores did not differ from control, and several children rejected headphones because they still heard voices.