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Reducing Listening-Related Stress in School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

High levels of stress and anxiety are common in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Within this study of school-aged children (20 male, 6 female) we hypothesised that functional hearing deficits (also pervasive in ASD) could be ameliorated by auditory interventions and that, as a consequence, stress levels would be reduced. The use of Ear-Level Remote Microphone devices and Classroom Amplification systems resulted in significantly improved listening, communication and social interaction and a reduction in physiologic stress levels (salivary cortisol) in both one-on-one and group listening situations.

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Abbreviations

ASD:

Autism Spectrum Disorder

SNR:

Signal to noise ratio

HPA:

Hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal

dBSPL:

Decibels sound pressure level

dBHL:

Decibels hearing level

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of the children, families and teachers who participated in this study - in particular Jennifer Clark at Lilydale Heights College and Sue Wall at Oberon High School. Two Master of Clinical Audiology students, Alvin Gan and Rhea Sethi, contributed to data collection. Thanks also to PHONAK.org who donated the auditory devices.

Author contributions

GR conceptualized and designed the study, drafted the initial manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. DC coordinated and supervised data collection, critically reviewed the manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. KS was involved in study design, subject recruitment/data collection, reviewed/revised the manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. JLR was involved in study design and critically reviewed the manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted.

Funding

This study was supported by a Project Grant from the Jack Brockhoff Foundation awarded to Professor Rance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Audiology & Speech Pathology, The University of Melbourne, 550 Swanston St, Parkville, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Gary Rance & Donella Chisari

  2. School of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

    Kerryn Saunders

  3. Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, Animal Welfare Science Centre, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Jean-Loup Rault

Authors
  1. Gary Rance
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  2. Donella Chisari
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  3. Kerryn Saunders
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  4. Jean-Loup Rault
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gary Rance.

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Conflict of interest

Gary Rance has received research Grants from Phonak Org. Donella Chisari, Kerryn Saunders and Jean-Loup Rault declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Rance, G., Chisari, D., Saunders, K. et al. Reducing Listening-Related Stress in School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 47, 2010–2022 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3114-4

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