Arousal and sensory sensitivity in autistic adults

Goal

Validation of a novel sensory sensitivity questionnaire and determining how arousal, inhibition, and sensory sensitivities relate.

Findings

The Dutch translation of the Glasgow Sensory sensitivity scale happens to be a valid and reliable instrument and can be used in clinical practice. While autistic adults did report more sensory sensitivities, experience heightened arousal due to specific stimuli, this was not directly measurable through heart rate variability and/or task performance. We hypothesized that autistic adults are have a lower threshold for detecting sounds, so are better in detecting specific sounds. This is not what we observed.