Published on 12, July, 2020
My ASD daughter gets very disturbed when people are talking downstairs, and she is in her bedroom upstairs. She finds the (random) noise intolerable, even if we try to talk quietly. It becomes a question of upsetting her, versus being silent all the time!
Has anyone any suggestions on what we could do? Noise cancelling headphones have been tried, but I think we got the wrong model.
Thanks for any replies.
When your daughter is in her room, does she usually prefer things to be very quiet then, or does she have TV/Music on in the background?
When I was a kid, I got so used to the TV being on all the time that I still tend to have it on in the background now, even when I am doing something else. The only difference being I tend to leave it on 'Dave' or 'BBC News 24' nowadays.
If your daughter doesn't like using Music/TV as background noise, then I am not sure what to suggest. In the past when I worked in London, I often used to listen to music on a WalkMan when I was out & about, especially on public transport. Nowadays though, I just always carry those soft rubber earplugs for when background noise is too irritating (babies screaming, loud conversations with people constantly saying "innit" at the end of every sentence, etc).
The main problem I can think of with using earplugs or even noise cancelling headphones at home would be that your daughter might not hear if you knocked on her bedroom door & could then be startled/irritated if you suddenly entered her room unexpectedly.
Of course, if you could get her to develop an interest in 'Drum & Bass Music' then the problem would be the other way around (just kidding).