Adolescent anxiety increases most between the ages of 11 and 17, and professionals struggle to know which children will remain in difficulty for a long time. To refine this early identification, a large British cohort of 6,621 children was followed from primary school to high school. Researchers from the Wolfson Center for Young People’s Mental Health, at Cardiff University, investigated whether a simple detail of everyday life, often trivialized, could predict the future. Their discovery comes down to… a question asked during a routine hearing test at age 11.
How a Question About Noise Sensitivity Predicts Anxiety in Adolescence
The team used data from 6,621 children who answered this question during a hearing assessment at age 11. A question targets the noise sensitivitywhich researchers call
hyperacusis. At age 11, children were asked: “Have you ever felt hypersensitivity or distress to certain sounds?“, talking about ordinary noises like classroom chatter or traffic.
About 3.7% of participants, or almost 4%, reported hyperacusis, with a majority of boys. Parents then completed, when their child was 13 and 16 years old, the emotional subscale of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-E), which measures fears, worries, nervousness, sadness and physical complaints.
The results show that children sensitive to noise at 11 years old present, at 13 and 16 years old, more symptoms ofanxiety in adolescence than the others. This gap remains present even when taking into account the emotional difficulties already identified at age 11 and markers of neurodiversity such as autism or attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity. Hyperacusis is mainly related to the SDQ-E questions on fear, worry and nervousness.
“Our results suggest that daily exposure to these aversive sounds can lead to cycles of avoidance and stress contributing to the development of anxiety. Children may begin to experience anxiety around entire environments where these sounds occur, such as school or social situations” says Dr. Foteini Tseliou, Research Associate, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences.
Among children who were already very anxious in primary school, those who were also hyperacusic were approximately twice as likely to see their anxiety persist.
Hyperacusis, anxiety trajectories and lasting sensory profile
L’hyperacusis in children is not just about not liking noise. Sounds that are commonplace to most people – clanging dishes, conversations, music, traffic, household appliances – become distressing, even painful or distressing. In the ALSPAC cohort, children reporting hyperacusis at age 11 were also three times more likely to still report hyperacusis at age 28, suggesting a lasting sensory profile.
How schools and caregivers can use this noise question
The researchers highlight important limitations to their study, with many losses to follow-up in the ALSPAC cohort and hyperacusis assessed by a single question in the clinic, which undoubtedly underestimated the cases.
However, for Dr Foteini Tseliou, these results could help in the early identification of adolescents most at risk. ““A simple question about noise sensitivity at age 11 can help identify children at higher risk of developing or maintaining anxiety during adolescence, providing an additional means of early identification…this could potentially help identify children who might benefit from adjustments to their environment or early support before anxiety becomes entrenched in a young person.”
The expert invites schools and caregivers to integrate these sensory questions into their assessments to identify the most vulnerable adolescents earlier.