Hospital noises: sonic autobiography and the embodied experience of autistic auditory perception – a transdisciplinary arts-practice enquiry

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Helmi, X. (2026). Hospital noises: sonic autobiography and the embodied experience of autistic auditory perception – a transdisciplinary arts-practice enquiry. Journal of Creative Research Methods, 2(1), 41-63. https://doi.org/10.1332/30502969y2026d000000014

Publication date: 27 Apr 2026 Added to AutiHub: 16 Oct 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)
  1. Xsara Helmi *

Abstract

This study explores the autistic auditory experience within hospital environments using a phenomenological, transdisciplinary arts-based research (TABR) framework, contributing to auraldiversity. Drawing on the lived experience of a neurodivergent researcher, it combines field recordings, autoethnographic narrative, and intuitive music improvisation informed by Husserl’s epoché and Merleau-Ponty’s embodied perception theory. This method suspends analytical judgement to prioritise immediate sensory experience. This study reinterprets the concept of sonic autobiography developed by Black feminist sound artist Ain Bailey (2018) as a multilayered form of autistic self-representation, positioning sound as a medium of memory, emotion, and embodied expression. Drawing on Kane’s theory of listening as affective experience and Collingwood’s view of art as imaginative creation, the piano functions as a vessel for channelling sensory anxiety into creative communication. The article introduces autistic sonic texture sensitivity (ASTS), phonotactilia, and tonotextural sensory modulation (TSM) to articulate under-recognised aspects of autistic auditory perception. By privileging the body as a site of knowledge, this enquiry critiques neuromajority perspectives in autism research and advocates for sensory-led, arts-based methodologies that honour autistic perceptual realities. This work contributes to aural diversity, autism studies, autoethnography, music phenomenology, sound studies, and health humanities.

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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: 17 Oct 2026 01:01.

Cited references
89
With a DOI
0
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
89
2 / 89 (2.2%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
4 / 89 (4.5%)
References with detected author names
85 / 89 (95.5%)
Without detected author names
4
Without a structured title
1
Without a stable identifier
89
References with raw author names still to review
4
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
85
From DOI or external metadata
85
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
5
7 / 85 (8.2%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 78 / 85 (91.8%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
2 / 85 (2.4%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 2 / 7 (28.6%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 2 / 69 (2.9%).
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