Ming from Agents of Speech explains why children cover their ears, especially those on the autism spectrum. Sensory overload makes noises feel painfully loud even when they're not objectively loud. The behavior can also be a conditioned response tied to frustration.
Why do children cover the ears? Specifically children who might be on the spectrum? This is a hallmark for autism children. They would go. This in itself is disturbing to a lot of parents. So let's talk about why. First things first is there's something called sensory overload. Everyone's sensory profile is different. Your child doesn't need to be on the spectrum in order to be sensitive to noises. A lot of times when children start putting their hands over the ears, it means that they're having a bad time. Everyone has this kind of sensory overload. It's just that from child's perspective that maybe some noises are too loud. Sensory overload, a physiological situation. A child might be sensitive to a lot of things. Sound is only one of them. It also causes frustration. When sensory overload causes frustration, what happens is that whenever they're frustrated, they will start covering their ears. It becomes something that is conditioned, a behavior that is linked. Frustration does bring out these defense mechanisms to protect their sensory. Sometimes it's not because it's loud, it's because they're frustrated that you need to remember.
