Really, Really Loud Noise
August 4, 2006 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
An autistic boy who lives in Limassol, a port town on the southern coast of Cyprus, has been awarded 250,000 pounds for “extreme distress” caused by British aerobatic display jets from the Red Arrows, according to an article in Reuters UK today. The case was brought against the Cypriot government, not against Britain, which has two military bases on Cyprus.
My son Charlie has displayed sound sensitivity in recent months—the sounds of motorcycles and lawnmowers brings a troubled look onto his face—and many autistic children are alike sensitive to sound. I prefer not to imagine what it might be like for Charlie to hear jets roaring over his own home.
I sent my brother a link to this one because he lived in Cyprus (in Nicosia, no less) for the last year (mission work). Here’s what he wrote back to me:
Talk about coincidences……. has he ever heard the jets?
We don’t have jets flying too low overhead (it’s a reasonable distance to the airport), but if anyone sets up one of those “moonwalk” bounce things, the motor noise on that distresses Sam greatly.
There was the one repeatedly-circling prop plane that my husband and I were sure was going to crash a few hundred yards north of us, but you couldn’t hear that much from the south side of the house, which was where Sam was at the time. (We were transfixed, just waiting for the crash and set to call 911 if it happened.)