Sensory white noise in clinical ADHD: Who benefits from noise, and who performs worse?

Background: Experimental research has shown the benefits of auditory white noise on cognitive performance in children with attention problems. However, little is currently known about individual differences in noise response amongst children with a clinical diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In addition, no research has so far tested the effects of visual white noise on children with ADHD.

Objectives: The present work aimed at testing the effect of visual and auditory white noise on cognitive performance in children diagnosed with ADHD.

Method: Forty-three children with ADHD diagnosis performed a visuo-spatial working memory test with experimentally controlled auditory and visual white noise. Symptomatic and demographic data were collected.

Results: Surprisingly, results did not show significant effects of noise across the full sample of ADHD children. However, responses to noise appeared to affect subgroups of ADHD children differently: Those with relatively more inattentive traits responded positively on noise exposure whereas those with relatively more hyperactive/impulsive traits performed worse during noise exposure. Individual differences in noise response in the auditory and visual modalities were strongly correlated.

Conclusions: It is important to consider individual differences in response to noise exposure, and to take into account the specific ADHD symptom profile (inattentive vs. hyperactive/impulsive) in applying noise to support cognitive performance in children with ADHD.