AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Trillions of red-eyed cicadas are out across the Southeast and Midwest. They may be the song of the summer to some, but others wish the insects would just turn it down a bit. The loud buzzing and clicking sound made by the insects can be especially irritating for people on the autism spectrum with hearing sensitivity. And a rare double brood of cicadas around St. Louis has been making a lot of noise. Reporter Zach Dyer with our partner KFF Health News has the story.
(SOUNDBITE OF CICADAS BUZZING)
KASEY FOWLER-FINN: Let's see. We can go over here.
ZACH DYER: To get a lesson in Cicada appreciation, I met up with Kasey Fowler-Finn. She's a biology professor at St. Louis University.
FOWLER-FINN: If you're not used to listening to insects sing, it might just sound like a big cacophony. But if you listen close, you can hear all the subtleties of the different species, which is pretty cool.
DYER: It's hot in this field outside the city, but the cicadas don't mind.
FOWLER-FINN: They really need it to be quite hot to sing. So on hotter days, you're going to hear more cicadas.
DYER: Fowler-Finn gives me her best impersonation of the three species most common around here.
FOWLER-FINN: (Vocalizing).
DYER: Put them all together, and you get a chorus.
(SOUNDBITE OF CICADAS BUZZING)
DYER: But for those with hearing sensitivity, it can be an overwhelming wall of sound. Back in St. Louis, Jamie Reed has a 14-year-old son with autism. She says the cicadas have been a struggle for him.
JAMIE REED: He said the noise hurts. The way he described it to me, he said it sounds like there's always a train running next to him.
RACHEL FOLLMER: I'm not surprised.
DYER: That's Rachel Follmer. She's a pediatrician who treats many children with autism at Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago.
FOLLMER: When something is uncomfortable or difficult, sensory-wise, for individuals with autism, it can be very upsetting.
DYER: Follmer says if a child with autism is having a hard time, parents can walk them through what to expect.
FOLLMER: So, you know, we're going to go outside. And when you go outside, it might be louder than normal. That might make you feel, like, nervous. That might hurt your ears. And then give examples of what you can do moving forward from that.
DYER: Like listening to music with headphones or wearing ear plugs. Reed's family has been using a combination of these strategies with her son - and another one - learning more about cicadas.
REED: Looking into it, I think, grounds him a little bit in knowing this is temporary. This is kind of a once-in-a-lifetime-for-his-young-age thing. I think those kind of facts really help kids like that.
DYER: You don't have to have a hearing sensitivity or be on the autism spectrum to think the cicadas are too noisy. Follmer says, in the suburbs, where there are a lot of them, people don't want to go outside.
FOLLMER: Their kids don't want to do it. They don't want to do it because it's not an enjoyable experience with, like, how loud it is. And those are for individuals who are not on the spectrum.
DYER: Cicadas can get as loud as a lawnmower or a motorcycle. But Fatima Husain says they're unlikely to damage your hearing. She's a professor and neuroscientist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. There are all sorts of other things that are louder than cicadas that we take for granted. Think persistent noise from highways, airports, even hair salons. She says that kind of noise pollution, over several hours, can take a toll on our ears and our emotional health.
FATIMA HUSAIN: If you are being exposed to very loud sounds for a part of your school day or your working day, it may make you more stressed out. It may make you more angry about things.
DYER: The loud airport is here to stay, but the cicadas aren't. Most of this brood will be gone in the next few weeks, just in time for another noisy summer event - the Fourth of July. I'm Zach Dyer in St. Louis.
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