Clinical observation and personal accounts of people with Asperger’s syndrome suggest that there are three types of noise that are perceived as extremely unpleasant. The first category is sudden, unexpected noises, that one adult with Asperger’s syndrome described as ‘sharp’, such as a dog barking, telephone ringing, someone coughing, a school fire alarm, the clicking of a pen top, or crackling sounds. The second category is high-pitched, continuous sounds, particularly the sound of small electric motors used in domestic electrical equipment such as food processors or vacuum cleaners or the
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