Covers Their Ears, or Can't Follow in Noise? Sound Sensitivity and Listening Trouble

By Laura Lurns · Reviewed by Philip Weaver · Last reviewed 2026-10-05

Covering ears, or missing speech in noise

A child who covers their ears is showing you a behavior. The behavior alone does not tell you why.

Two different things get called trouble with sound. One is sound sensitivity. Ordinary sounds feel too loud, painful or upsetting. The other is listening trouble. A child with normal hearing finds speech hard to follow, especially in noise.

A child can have either, both or neither. In our view, either one is worth raising with an audiologist. Our rule is to describe patterns on these pages. We do not put a name on a child. Ask your child's doctor whether hearing has been checked recently.

Sound sensitivity

As of 2026, a US speech and hearing body calls hyperacusis "a heightened sensitivity to ordinary sounds" (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association). It says children may be less able to put hyperacusis into words. They may cover their ears or cry instead. The same body says audiologists play a central role in assessing it. In our view, take a hearing concern to your child's doctor or an audiologist.

Listening trouble

A British audiology body describes auditory processing disorder as listening trouble with normal hearing (British Society of Audiology, 2018). One large UK study argued that auditory processing disorder is mainly an attention problem (Moore and colleagues, 2010). This is not settled. A child who cannot hear well needs that found. Ask your child's doctor whether hearing has been checked recently.

A US audiology body says audiologists should diagnose auditory processing disorder (American Academy of Audiology, 2010). We cannot tell you whether your child has auditory processing disorder. In our view, take a hearing concern to your child's doctor or an audiologist.

What one clinic study found

One clinic study tested 71 autistic children with normal hearing (James and colleagues, 2022). Many had trouble making out speech in noise. The study compared them with test norms, not with other children. We could read only its summary. Ask your child's doctor whether hearing has been checked recently.

What we hold no study of

No study we hold compares sound sensitivity and listening trouble in the same children. We hold no sign that tells the two apart in one child. A child can have either, both or neither. In our view, either one is worth raising with an audiologist. Ask your child's doctor whether hearing has been checked recently.

No study we hold compares children with auditory processing disorder and autistic children. Ask your child's doctor whether hearing has been checked recently.

Who to ask

Sound sensitivity and listening trouble are two different things. In our view, either one is worth raising with an audiologist. In our view, take a hearing concern to your child's doctor or an audiologist.

• Ask your child's doctor whether hearing has been checked recently.
• Ask whether an audiologist should see your child.
• Tell the doctor what you see at home, and when it happens.

Questions for an audiologist

In our view, these are fair questions for an audiologist.

• Is this sound sensitivity, listening trouble, both or neither?
• What should we try at home and at school?

When to ask for help

Each of these is a reason to ask for help on its own.

• Little change, even with steady practice and good teaching.
• Schoolwork well below what school expects.
• A teacher who raises a concern about learning.
• Extreme upset about schoolwork.
• Complete avoidance of school or learning.
• Hopelessness about learning.
• Sadness or worry that lasts.
• Significant delays in speech, language or motor development.
• A skill that was there and has gone. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first, not a tutor.

If no skill has gone, start with the teacher. Say what you are seeing at home, and what you have tried. Beyond the teacher, the right person depends on what it turns out to be about. If the work is too hard, someone who works on that school skill. If worry or mood is the thing, someone who works with children's mental health. In our view, delays in speech, language or movement are worth raising with your child's doctor. In our view, if you are worried enough to ask, a professional evaluation is worth asking about.

Any talk of hurting themselves is a same-day call to your doctor or a crisis line.