How Auditory Environments Impact Autistic Wellbeing

Sound Sensitivities and Autistic Wellbeing: What Schools Must Understand About Auditory Environments

Many Autistic people live with heightened sound sensitivity. But it’s not just about disliking loud noise. It’s about complex sensory processing, cognitive load, and navigating environments that were never designed with neurodivergent people in mind. A recent study by Poulsen et al. (2025) “Auditory environments influence the link between Autistic traits and quality of life” gives new weight to Autistic voices long calling for changes in the way public and educational spaces manage sound. It’s a call for schools to take notice—and act.

Sound and the Autistic Experience: It’s More Than Noise

Autistic individuals frequently experience sound differently. The study found that these differences go far beyond simply being overwhelmed by loudness. Participants described difficulty tracking multiple speakers, increased fatigue from reverberation, slower adaptation to background noise, and a more intense need for control over their auditory environment.

Rather than dismissing these challenges as “overreactions,” the study frames them as valid neurodevelopmental differences. Importantly, these auditory sensitivities were found to directly impact quality of life (QoL), especially for Autistic individuals with traits related to communication, flexibility, and social interaction.

Key Finding: The Soundscape Can Limit Flourishing

Across 296 Autistic adults, both self-identified and clinically diagnosed, researchers measured sensory sensitivity, autistic traits, and how sound affected everyday life. Their analysis revealed that difficult auditory environments significantly mediated the negative impacts of Autistic traits on quality of life. In other words:

It wasn’t just the traits themselves causing distress—it was how those traits interacted with the sensory environment.

This has major implications. Often, schools focus on changing the Autistic student’s behaviour rather than changing the environment. But this study supports a shift in focus: modify the environment, not the person.

Aversive Environments Reduce Autonomy

The study identified four key types of auditory environments:

• Adverse: Chaotic, noisy, or unpredictable
• Tolerable: Manageable but not ideal
• Complex: Multi-speaker or echo-heavy spaces
• Adapting: How easy it is to get used to a place over time

It was the Adverse and Adapting categories that had the strongest impact on quality of life. Difficulty adapting over time often led to emotional exhaustion. This reinforces what many Autistic people already describe, masking and self-regulating in a noisy space drains energy and limits participation.

For schools, this means classrooms, corridors, dining halls, and even playgrounds can become oppressive unless proactive steps are taken to reduce auditory overload.

What Does This Mean for Schools?

1. Classroom acoustics matter.
Hard floors, high ceilings, and poor sound absorption amplify noise and echo. This can be disorienting and exhausting. Adding soft furnishings, acoustic panels, or sound-dampening tiles is not just nice, it’s inclusion.

2. Background noise isn’t harmless.
Many Autistic students struggle to distinguish voices in multi-speaker environments. Group work, assembly halls, and even classroom chatter can be barriers to learning, not opportunities. Staff need to be aware that students may not be zoning out, they may not be able to process the auditory input.

3. Ear defenders are support tools, not avoidance.
Over 70% of participants in the study used earplugs or headphones to manage their auditory experience. These are not signs of withdrawal or disinterest. They are vital regulation tools. Schools should allow and encourage their use without stigma.

4. Repetitive behaviours are often adaptive.
The study linked increased sound sensitivity with a greater use of self-regulatory repetitive behaviours. These behaviours, flapping, tapping, humming, are not disruptive. They are strategies to cope with sensory input. Schools must protect the right of Autistic students to self-regulate in these ways without punishment.

5. Adapting takes effort.
The ability to “get used to it” is often assumed. But for many Autistic people, adapting to a new auditory environment is not automatic. The research showed that this extra cognitive effort reduces overall wellbeing. Flexibility, choice, and gentle exposure (with supports such as headphones, or first visit during a quieter time) should be prioritised over forced adaptation.

The Bigger Picture: Autonomy and Belonging

At the heart of this study is a message that should resonate deeply with educators: Quality of life improves when Autistic people have more control over their sensory environment.

In schools, this means giving students the right to:

• Leave noisy spaces without penalty
• Use sensory tools like headphones or chewable jewellery
• Learn in smaller, quieter groups
• Be consulted about what helps them thrive

Neurodiversity-affirming education isn’t about fixing behaviours, it’s about removing barriers.

Where Do We Go from Here?

Train staff: Ensure every adult in school understands how sensory environments impact learning and wellbeing.

Audit the environment: Walk the school with sensory sensitivity in mind. What does a classroom sound like during group work? How loud is the bell? Is there a calm, quiet place to decompress?

Listen to students: Ask Autistic pupils what helps or hinders. Act on what they say.

Adopt the social model of disability: This study reinforces that it’s often the environment, not the diagnosis, that disables. Schools must challenge the assumption that all children can (or should) tolerate the same spaces in the same way.

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Final Thought

Poulsen et al.’s study offers more than academic insight. It affirms what many Autistic people have long said: sound matters, and so does being heard.

If schools truly want to support neurodivergent students, the first step is to listen, and then adapt the environment to meet the reality of their needs.

Citation

Poulsen, R., Tan, D. W., Sowman, P. F., McAlpine, D., & Pellicano, E. (2025). Auditory environments influence the link between Autistic traits and quality of life. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-94585-y