Sonic bombardment, noise hypersensitivity and ethics: A response to Fodstad and colleagues: ‘Assessment and treatment of noise hypersensitivity in a teenager with autism Spectrum Disorder’

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. seven authors of this publication are identified as autistic in the project.

About the autistic author marker

Botha, M., Grant, A., Memmott, A., Milton, D., Pearson, A., Williams, G., & Woods, R. (2021). Sonic bombardment, noise hypersensitivity and ethics: A response to Fodstad and colleagues: ‘Assessment and treatment of noise hypersensitivity in a teenager with autism Spectrum Disorder’ [Preprint]. Center for Open Science. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/9578b

Publication date: 29 Oct 2021 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Preprint Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
7
Publication authors identified as autistic
7 / 7 (100.0%)

Abstract

This commentary – provided by a group of Autistic researchers – reflects on a case study trialling a ‘modified Cognitive Behavioural Therapy intervention’ to address the ‘noise hypersensitivity’ and associated behaviours of an Autistic teenager, ‘Aaron’. We identify serious flaws in the evidence base behind the ‘therapy’: including failing to account for divergent Autistic sensory reactivity, aiming to remove ‘stimming’ behaviours and promoting masking. We challenge the lack of informed consent reported as given by either Aaron or a proxy and the absence of any reported ethical approval for this case study. We also strongly condemn the methods of sonic bombardment delivered upon Aaron under the guise of ‘therapy’. We conclude with three questions around the processes that led to the original article’s publication. All authors are joint first authors. The essay was published by Participatory Autism Research Collective: https://participatoryautismresearch.wordpress.com/2021/10/27/sonic-bombardment-noise-hypersensitivity-and-ethics-a-response-to-fodstad-and-colleagues/

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 17:07.

Cited references
79
With a DOI
73
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
0
22 / 79 (27.8%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
0 / 79 (0.0%)
References with detected author names
79 / 79 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
0
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
271
From DOI or external metadata
271
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
134 / 271 (49.4%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 137 / 271 (50.6%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
36 / 271 (13.3%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 36 / 134 (26.9%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 24 / 236 (10.2%).
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