humming

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Why do autistic children (and adults) hum? My friend who has twins with autism, one of whom is high functioning and hums a lot, pointed out that the other day she heard another boy humming the exact same pitch and frequency as her son's hum? So much so, that she thought it was him. The other boy too is autistic. Has anyone else noted a similar humming sound? Does anyone know of any research into particular humming frequencies and what this does to the brain in autism? Do you hum? What does it do for you? Do you always hum the same?

Any thoughts/ideas?

Thanks

gosh, i never really hummed due to the fact that it made my lungs "tickle" uncomfortably. but since childhood, i often whistled melodically and with facility. it is stress-relieving for me, soothing to my psyche and my ears. i wouldn't know if AS children who hum do it for the same reasons that i whistle, but i suspect there is a commonality there.

Might be something to do with harmonic resonance within bone cavities and other sound absorbent-sensory body materials. It must have an effect on the brain. Monks chant and "hum" . Seem a peaceful lot . Apiarists also report the vibrations of bees when settling on mass on their protective clothing is strangely calming. If you go to a buddhist /christian monastery , or stand next to a row bee hives you can not only hear the sound but feel the vibration.

I start humming if I get really upset. Never really thought about it. It's probably a calming mechanism for me. I very rarely get that upset though.

I know a couple of kids who hum when happy. One hums particularly when eating something he enjoys. Whenever we hear the humming, we know he's happy!

I hummed as a child. It seems I always did it while I was rocking at the same time. Aunt Blabby is probably right about it being a stim, I did it because it was soothing to me. I never hummed any song I was familiar with but always the same 2-3 notes repeatedly. Of course I hummed at a high pitch as a child.

Memesplice that's fascinating. There is a resonance tuning hum I do when I practice Hemi-Sync meditation from the Monroe Institute. I have never thought that maybe I was doing the same thing as a child, I still have no idea but now I'm curious.

Wonder what would happen if we organized a 30 second Wrong Planet synchronized humming session at a specific time?

Aslo. Thinking about this again ,after a long time: I have been called to remove 2 lots of beehives from chimney stacks. ( I think they must build in summer when the fires aren't going.) I went in after pest guys have unfortunately killed them. The down side to bees in chimneys is they fall down, get covered in soot and understandably get angry when their sensory apparatus is confused and they can't find their way back up the chimney . So the homeowners reluctantly have to get the hives destroyed.

Not sure if there is anything in this, but both were chimney stacks venting from the rooms of musical families. Both separate familes went to a church, and had Bach choral sessions. One was pure singing the other, now get this, accompanied by a harpsicord ( think of resonance).

You have to take the chimney stacks down and rebuild them. Sooty bricks , wax comb and golden honey. Weird combination, almost brimstone and treacle.

Not a definite because in terms of sample validity both families had same type of houses, I was recommended by one to other, hence that's why it might appear the music- attraction + other variables correlate. Would need wider research, but it's an interesting speculation.

I do a fair bit of humming, but that's because I enjoy my music.

I sometimes simply blow air out through my mouth while using my tongue to add staccato. I is a stim I often lose track of.

I've never heard of anything like that before. That is very interesting!

I have heard that people who had studied music as children were more psychic/intuitive than people who had not. Mind you, I do not know if this is true. But I have wondered if there was a connection with having been exposed to the energy/vibration of sounds that has helped them to develop the ability to interpret other energy/vibrations.

I hum, when I have a tune in my head or just when I watch TV.

i also do the same thing Penseive

gee, this sounds like one of those "which is the chicken and which is the egg?" kind of questions. maybe the ability of interpret energy vibrations lent itself to musical ability? nobody has done any studies as to whether or not psychic folk are more talented musically. when i was younger i frequently found myself thinking of a song with some intensity, only to have somebody else start whistling or humming that very same song. or i would be whistling a song only to have somebody tell me "i was just thinking of that song!"
just some random thoughts on my part.

That's interesting when that happens. Stuff like that fascinates the Hell out of me.

I don't do humming myself (except deliberately for fun), but I did recently notice a guy doing that when I talked to him - a few years ago I'd have thought he was weird, but having found out so much about these things, I realised that it might be a coping strategy, and I liked him all the more for it - we hang out together quite a lot now. I think I was just overloading him with too much talk, and that was his way of dealing with it.

Is it only Aspies who hum (apart from the "normal" humming of tunes for the pleasure of it), or is it a technique that other types of people also need to use?