Children and (young) adults with autism often suffer from hypersensitivity to stimuli, especially auditive stimuli. For example, a ticking clock can be too much. People with autism are often constantly fighting against this flood of stimuli: they lose their concentration faster and get tired sooner. Wearing good hearing protection can provide a real solution!

NOIZEZZ earplugs for hypersensitive ears

NOIZEZZ has developed earplugs specifically for the most sensitive ears. When wearing these earplugs the ambient noise is dampened by means of the mild filter. This way you are less affected by auditory stimuli, but you can follow the conversation well.

In practice

More rest in your life with only two small earplugs. Of course this sounds great. But let’s see what the earplugs really mean for people with autism.

Kayleigh (16 years) has PDD-NOS and all her life she has been suffering from hypersensitive ears. In particular, during stressful periods she suffers a lot. Kayleigh’s mother says: “A couple of years ago we had a period when Kayleigh during the dinner could not stand any sounds. Knives and forks could not touch each other, the ladle could not touch the side of the pan and the knife could not touch the plate. The entire family was very tensioned at the table, afraid that someone would make a sound that Kayleigh could not stand. But except for the sounds at the table and the loading and unloading the dishwasher, she also cannot stand the sound of walking over gravel, synthetic fabrics that touch each other, hard sounds such as drilling. Noises that are around you all day in your environment. Kayleigh holds her ears and says that those noises hurt her ears.”

Testing NOIZEZZ hearing protection

“Initially, Kayleigh was very afraid to wear the earplugs, scared that they would not come out any more. With the help of a family worker this worked at the end. We had tried the earplugs ourselves and thought that they didn’t do much, we could not hear a difference. But for Kayleigh it was a revelation. During meals, we could scratch on the plate, knives and forks could touch each other. We could not belief that these simple earplugs suddenly made everything easier. And Kayleigh can still join the conversation at the table. The earplugs are some of the most important items in the house. We are very happy that we got to know the comfort of earplugs”

Article in collaboration with Dutch Association for Autism (by: Bernadette Wineker-Holmes (RED.) Edition 2, summer 2014)