How does Autism affect hearing?!
Question: I am doing a research paper for my physio class.
Answers: I am doing a research paper for my physio class.
There can be sensory issues associated with hearing for autistic individuals. Some sounds can be heightened to the point where they exceed the normal range. Hard to explain but our child had gone through periods where if someone was mowing 6 houses down, he had to put on headphones because the noise from the mower was unbearable. In effect, the sound was crossing the pain threshold for him whereas I could barely hear the mower. These periods of sensory development would come and go for periods of a few months or so for the first several years of his life. We came to learn that many "meltdowns" were attributed to painful sounds and overstimulating environments due to sensory issues he was going through. Seems to have evened out now but many people struggle with sensory adjustment throughout their lives. This can affect hearing, vision, balance and sense of touch as well.
I don't know that there is an issue with hearing due to autism. If someone is autistic, they may have these issues but I don't know that it is from the autism.
There have been many long-term studies of children who are born deaf and blind. One-third of blind children become autistic. All deaf and blind babies are autistic. Helen Keller was a good example.
That's the only connection between deafness and autism, though. In other words, deafness can increase the chances of autism, but autism can't affect hearing.