Boom Cars: Turn It Down for Autistic Children!

Imagine you are waiting for your autistic child’s school bus to pick him up for a normal day at school. Suddenly, a car that blares out the bass passes by you. Your child covers his ears and screams, and you try to calm him down.  Then, a neighbor emerges out of his house and tells you to control your “little brat.” You feel put down by that comment as your child screams uncontrollably. When the bus arrives, he calms down thanks to the aides.

There are many things that make excessive noise that bother a lot of people so much, and boom cars are no exceptions. Those cars have larger sound systems than normal ones, and with all the extra speakers in the back they can make as much music heard from up to a few hundreds of feet. Many owners of the cars say that having them enables them to feel the music and have it heard for miles. That kind of noise pollution affects light sleepers, babies, those practicing yoga or other meditation, and other people.

In fact, boom cars are some of the things that adversely affect the livelihoods of autistic children.

Image via cakeeater23 via flickr

Most children affected by autism cannot handle loud noises as much as normal children do. They have the inability to filter out background noise, especially when it comes to cars with extra subwoofers. This situation when they have to deal with excessive noises coming out of other people’s cars is sensory overstimulation. Once the “boom boom boom” hits their system several times, they meltdown, flail their arms, or undergo injurious stimming like banging their heads against something.

For example, a nonverbal autistic child takes a walk with a parent on a quiet morning of sorts. Then, a car playing loud reggaeton music passes them by. He falls to the floor and screams and flails his limbs like a complete lunatic. The driver of the car with the loud bass and profanity busied himself with his own business that he simply ignored the child’s meltdown. Although boom car owners don’t notice it because they are too busy with their music, that is what auditory sensitivity looks like.

So what can communities do to not only to keep theirs less noisy, but to have automobile owners show some courtesy to autistic children, who are sensitive to loud noises? The solution is simple: ban boom cars.

Having owners of too loud cars pay fines for disturbing the peace is merely not enough. They should also be taught how noise pollution affects the health. Even better, they should be taught how it affects individuals with autism, especially youth. With the number of children with autism rising, those who love loud music should be taught how to be considerate so that their music would not disturb them and make them meltdown.

Noise ordinances, already installed in cities, are supplemental ways to reduce noise pollution. Children with the spectrum disorders would benefit greatly from them and neighbors would give them and their parents less stink eyes. Cities and towns should work together to make themselves peaceful by banning boom cars not just for the benefit of sleep patterns and ears, but for special needs children who can’t stand too much noise.

As for autistic children and their parents, there are always earphones and earplugs to minimize the “boom boom” that bothers them.

Useful Links
Noise Free America
Autistic Children and Noise
No Boom Cars
Noise Free America’s Page on Boom Cars
Noise Off’s Page on Boom Cars