Taking the edge off

While the popularity of ASMR has risen, there has also been an increase services and products that reduce or ‘cancel’ noise.

This has coincided with increased awareness and diagnosis of neurodiversity, particularly conditions such as autism and ADHD, which are often associated with heightened sensory sensitivity. Many neurodiverse people and their families say ear defenders or noise cancelling technology are instrumental in enabling them to participate more fully in everyday life, navigating environments they would otherwise find intolerable.

Supermarkets have introduced quiet, low-lit shopping periods, airports now have sensory rooms, cinemas offer showings of lower volume films in lighter auditoriums. Often these are labelled ‘sensory friendly’ or specifically mention autistic customers, recognising their potential need for a quieter, calmer environment.

But use of noise-cancelling headphones and earplugs, for example, to ‘take the edge off’ real-world sensory experiences, or of devices and apps that play white noise or other ‘soothing’ sounds like those of a rainy car ride or the tinkling of a mountain stream, goes far beyond those with diagnosed neurodiversity .

Marketing of many of these products is targeted. Ewan the Dream Sheep is a staple in many households with babies: a cuddly soft toy sheep that “mimics the comfort of the womb with a selection of ‘pink and white noise’ soothing sounds, including actual recordings of womb and heartbeat, combined with a warm pink calming glow, to lull your newborn or toddler into a peaceful slumber”.

‘Sleep sounds’ are now present as standard on kids’ apps and devices such as Yoto players alongside guided meditation and even ‘binaural beats’ to help them get to sleep. Meanwhile their parents are advertised Loop earplugs with a social media post that begins, “Ever wish you could just put your kids on ‘Mute’ for a second?” and proceeds to suggest their earplugs will help parents “be patient enough to be present”.

Teachers have also reported a marked rise in the rates of children using ear defenders in school to cope with the noisy environment. While these are considered part of an essential toolkit for supporting children with noise sensitivity due to conditions such as autism, some teachers and healthcare practitioners have warned that if they are overused they could become “a tool by which children can live apart from their environment in a sound ‘bubble’”.

Discussing this trend, audiologist Dr Ruth Reisman says the ideal is to be habituating young people to environments that can be challenging in terms of sound. But she cautions that their central nervous systems are still plastic as they are evolving and developing” and so by relying on ear defenders, there is a danger that we are not “teaching the brain to process things in a normal manner, but training it to run away from sounds”.

Meanwhile, on its website, Loop earplugs lists, “I want to be in my bubble” as one of three options for how its potential customers want to hear the world and has a model, Loop Engage kids, designed for children as young as six to “filter distracting background noise to help with focus at school, home and beyond” and “help manage stress and overstimulation, so kids can enjoy being kids”.

There’s undoubtedly been an acceleration in the development of noise-cancelling technology, but also an associated rise in noise-cancelling norms. Across the board, it’s clear that the widespread normalisation of headphone-wearing in public means that many more of us, much more of the time, are screening out the sounds of other people and the wider world.

Quoting Allied Market Research Data, an article in the Guardian last year said the noise-cancelling headphones market generated $13.1bn in 2021 and was expected to more than triple to $45.4bn by 2031. “Everywhere you look, it seems, people are resorting to accessories to turn down the volume of life: over-ear headphones on public transport, long-haul flights and in open-plan offices; coloured earplugs nestled discreetly in the concha of concertgoers, bartenders and, if you’re a snorer, perhaps the person you share a bed with.”

More recently, audiologists have raised concerns about the impact on auditory processing for people who overuse noise cancelling headphones. They cite a rise in cases where young people’s hearing appears normal, but their ability to process and differentiate sounds is suffering. A spokesperson for the British Academy of Audiology suggests that the brain can “forget” how to filter out background sound in the environment, leaving people overwhelmed: “You have almost created this false environment by wearing those headphones of only listening to what you want to listen to. You are not having to work at it”.