Ever seen a healthy child who doesn’t respond when talked to? One of the tell-tale signs of autism is the person’s isolation from other people. The word “autistic” comes from the word “autos” meaning “self.” Autistic people do not respond to others and they often appear to be deaf because they do not respond appropriately to sounds. Brain researchers have discovered that the autistic person’s lack of a response may be due to white noise.

Autistic people have nervous systems that do not seem to be wired properly. They do not know what to pay attention to and what to filter out of their locus of attention. Many verbal autistic people describe a sound that prevents them from hearing the sounds in their environment. This white noise seems to interfere with the person’s ability to process sounds properly.

White noise may be the reason that many autistic people do not process spoken language very well. They have difficulty understanding spoken words and the words often seem to blend together into one stream of sound. Since the person is constantly hearing a humming or static sound, he is unable to focus in on words. Many autistic people have difficulty hearing words when they are used in sentences. A sentence may sound like one long word to an autistic person because white noise is interfering with the person’s interpretation of the sentence.

I worked with a little girl who could not tell the difference between words that begin with the letter W. This can be very troublesome and even a little dangerous. To her, the words, “wait” and “want” were the same. I would tell her to wait and she would use sign language to ask for a cookie or a treat. I would simply say, “Nope” and prompt her to wait. I didn’t know that she thought I was asking her what she wanted. She would become extremely frustrated and she would often have a tantrum out of frustration. This interfered with our progress in therapy.

It wasn’t until I read about white noise as a factor in autism that I made the connection. It seems that the similarities between the words “want” and “wait” would be obvious, but I never really noticed how closely the words resembled each other until I considered the obstacles the little girl faced while trying to understand what I was saying. 

No one is positive that all autistic people hear white noise and no one is sure if they hear it continuously.  Until we can find a way to effectively communicate with all autistic individuals, we will not be sure. Another thing to consider is whether we can redirect a person who hears white noise. There may be no intervention that can overcome that obstacle. However, the more we come to understand white noise in relation to autism, the more we can determine how to manage it.

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