Response to sensorial stimuli of people with autism in an indoor well-being framework: a scoping review

People are stimulated by the indoor environment by means of vision, hearing, olfaction and thermal reception. Environmental perception is the outcome of these stimuli after brain processing. Individual differences in the sensitivity may cause identical stimuli to be perceived differently. This is known for some groups with diverse subjective characteristics (e.g., gender, age, health condition), while the influence on indoor environment perception of being on the autism spectrum is largely unknown. In this framework, studies on indoor wellbeing of people with autism are of paramount importance. In fact, people with autism constitute a relevant and growing share of the overall world population (about 1 in 100 children diagnosed with this condition). Moreover, their hypo- or hyper-sensitivity to sensory stimuli can cause indoor well-being requirements to be different. Nevertheless, technical standards lack information and design principles related with this theme.