Indoor environment perception of people with autism spectrum condition: A scoping review

Abstract

Current standards and guidelines on indoor environmental criteria contain very little information regarding people with special needs. This study provides a scoping review of the literature aimed at indoor environment design and sensorial perception of people with autism spectrum condition (ASC). Autistic people constitute a relevant and growing share of the world population, and their indoor environment exposure may lead to different sensorial perception as well as different adaptation opportunities. Moreover, their well-being, health and autonomy might benefit from proper design of the indoor conditions. The present review used a two-step methodology to build a broad scientific background for future research. This was done specifically by: 1. Identifying, analyzing and categorizing studies related to indoor environmental quality (IEQ) design for people with ASC, summarizing findings and highlighting knowledge gaps; 2. Investigating the scientific background on sensorial response of autistic people to stimuli related with the four comfort domains (thermo-reception, sight, olfaction, hearing), highlighting the possible direction of future research on indoor environmental well-being. The main findings were that current recommendations on indoor well-being of autistic people mainly target children, and are not based on systematic comfort studies. The scientific evidence on sensory processing demonstrates remarkable differences with neurotypical populations in the perception of environmental stimuli, which would most likely lead to different and peculiar findings and requirements in terms of indoor well-being. Based on the outcomes of this review, future studies on indoor environment for people with ASC can be designed.