Severe sensory to sounds and headbanging

NAS80149 said:

Some times he hears sounds that aren't even there.

If he can hear high pitched frequencies from his room he will be able to hear frequencies you've lost hearing at. They're there. Most adult humans lose hearing between 1-5k and at the higher end of the spectrum (12k-20k) as they get older. If you don't believe him, I can give you a few ideas for sound devices you can buy which will amplify sounds he can hear, which most humans cannot. Autists can be sensitive enough to hear the electricity from wires, lights, anything plugged in, from the landline before it rings (the signal runs through the walls), from all kinds of conductive mediums and even from the ground. I work in sound. Lower frequencies are felt in the bones. For those of us incredibly sensitive, we can feel an exhaust rumbling in the street, and all kinds of vibrations conducted through earth, concrete, wood, etc. 

It might actually be useful to buy him devices and a good pair of headphones like you'll see BBC Broadcasters wearing, so he can put them on, plug into the hard wired devices and help you understand where the sound is coming from. He might feel a little more relaxed if he can identify sounds and frequencies and have some control over the decibel levels. A good start with this could simply be a stethoscope. You can download a decibel reader like Decibel X and also a sound frequency spectrum for you phone. Just siting in my room typing with a computer on 2 rooms away, and the level is about 35dB. Sound is something we are always exposed to but dull out. If you'd like to learn to listen with him, spend some time in the park, close your eyes and write down everything you hear. It's best to help him learn to engage in a safe out door space like a park or near water. And it's important to spend time doing this to help him be mindful of what's incoming so he doesn't feel like sound is a constant unknown violating threat that can hurt him anytime, anywhere. The Philosopher Kant, believed that Music was the worst of aesthetic because you couldn't just walk away from it like a portrait or statue. It can potentially continue to invade you regardless of your desiring it to or not. 

Now, there is such a thing a phantom sound, but I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss him at this age and with what you're describing, he's definitely not making this up, unless like Alice in Wonderland Syndrome it's a strange effect that continues to get louder or softer, which is essentially a migraine. Have you taken him to an audiologist? Not only does he sound like he can hear similar to dog hearing (which is incredible and not at all unrealistic) but because he has such profound hearing, he will need shielding as he could potentially get tinnitus VERY young and a friend of a friend actually committed suicide because their tinnitus was so incredibly bad. If he's well protected, and potentially skilled and interested in fields involving sound, he could go into seismic communications: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seismic_communication or anything regarding ocean life and sounds: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/943736 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct1m8p He could treat acoustic rooms if he also likes physics. You might even want to find a mix engineer who teaches children how to produce for a few lessons to understand it better. 

This recordist is amazing and hand makes affordable microphones https://jezrileyfrench.co.uk He may have suggestions as well. Also, this couple collects libraries of sounds www.instagram.com/.../ - it could be interesting to listen to all the things a microphone can pick up (which it sounds like your son has similar hearing) which one doesn't always think about. He might enjoy looking at this with you.

Ideally, I'd suggest never taking him to a movie theatre or a pub or theatre. He might not mind out door concerts but I would suggest getting him involved in understanding Sound frequencies and Decibel Levels as soon as possible. 

There are plenty of hearing tests online, but I would suggest Never starting them unless you put headphones on as some will cause dogs ears and young ears a great deal of pain. 

In the wild, early humans with excellent hearing would've been able to keep the tribe safe. Today we need these same individuals to further society in all kinds of ways from physics to ecology, not just in the entertainment industry. Ears are incredibly precious, we cannot fix them once broken. Especially such sensitive ones!

Smells - hot tip: coffee beans nullify smell. If he likes that smell. A small cup full he can put his nose over can help so long as they're not flavoured. But a tin of illy could do the trick every other week... pop a few in a pocket. 

Smells are difficult. Chemically made smells actually affect our gut and lungs as they are airborne and can be toxic just like a range of VOC's such as formaldehyde or any kind of microbial compounds. This company has a good list https://greenorchardgroup.com/what-does-mold-smell-like-how-can-you-tell/

In the home, I use Ecover Zero https://www.ecoverdirect.com/departments/refills.aspx?deptid=RF&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqPGUBhDwARIsANNwjV5JL1B0xROVlawUgmpEnZ2iUAM5_XU_O3VPIWeC4wriZpPBT1AZOtQaAvtJEALw_wcB and Doctor Bronners for everything https://www.drbronner.co.uk 

This is another situation you can get creative with. Help him sit down and learn to find smells he likes. Perhaps in the park again. Perhaps he can pause for a few minutes and close his eyes and peel an orange, for example. This can help him begin to shift from feeling anxiety over an unknown sudden waft of something harsh might hit him at any minute, to learning to hunt down something pleasant. Perhaps a small patch of fresh cut grass or something in a garden. It's important he learn that it's not all bad. He might even enjoy carrying a mask around with him and no one should really mind these days :) 

I think this is a good idea JuniperFromGallifrey  - find smells he likes that he can access when he wants to override the ones he doesn’t. I find essential oils very good for this. I used to burn a lot of incense in the house too - I had one in particular that I bought 20 packets at a time because I loved it so much - but then I realised that it was really not healthy to be burning that amount of incense in the house so much. I miss it though. 
I think that Bose noise cancelling earphones are supposed to be very good. 
I really feel sorry for your son - it must be incredibly stressful for him. My youngest son (who is an adult now) has very sensitive hearing too. When he was about 5 we took him to a classical music concert - a very quiet programme of music and we sat up in the circle right at the back - so very gentle level of sound really as no application of any kind - and he cried so much! We lasted just a few minutes and had to leave! We didn’t even know any of us were autistic at that point! Autism wasn’t even on my radar - I didn’t even have access to the internet to research my son’s issues.  Weird to think of that now. We were all autistic and didn’t realise. No wonder we were so confused! 

Re, your GP - that response is not good enough! Is there another GP in your practice you can go to? 

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