![Sample our Education journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5932/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Education.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Abstract: Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and low cognitive functioning tend to demonstrate regulatory responses to auditory sensations, leading to disturbed behaviours such as self-stimulation, stereotypical movements, even aggression and self-harm. The aim of this study was to investigate whether listening to specific sounds and music reduced these behaviours. A systematic observational study of 16 participants was carried out with parental consent. A range of music types and sounds were played to participants including dissonant music (contemporary classical with dissonant chords), consonant music (classical romantic with consonant chords) and ambient sounds. Intermittent periods of silence between tracks were introduced to check for any potential influence of previous listening. It was noted that disturbed behaviour was least evident during periods of ‘silence’ (without additional auditory input), compared to any of the other conditions. Silence was therefore used as a baseline before listening to any sounds. Consonant music appeared to decrease disturbed behaviours compared with the other types of music and proved more effective than silence. These findings suggest that using specific types of music might help decrease some disturbed behaviour.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the participation of the Scholar Centre, the families who generously gave permission for collaboration in the study to collaborate in the study, all the students with ADC, their teachers, the judges who registered the videos into categorical items and the University for the video camera, the statistical software and other resources.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.