sensory-audit

Sensory Audit Skill

Sensory overload rarely announces itself — it's the fluorescent flicker you stopped

noticing, the fridge hum, the tag on the shirt, the open-plan chatter — each below

the threshold of complaint but adding up to an inexplicable end-of-day wreckage.

For autistic, ADHD, SPD, migraine-prone, and misophonic people, the environment is

doing invisible damage that "just push through" advice makes worse. This skill runs

the audit a good OT would prompt: go sense by sense through a space, name the

landmines, and fix them in cost order — most of the highest-impact fixes are free.

What This Skill Produces

• A sensory map of the space, by sense: sight (light, flicker, clutter,

screens), sound (hums, echo, unpredictable noise), touch (textures, temperature,

clothing), smell, and the often-missed ones — proprioception, interoception,

vestibular

• A ranked fix list: free (move the desk, kill the overhead light) → cheap

(earplugs, a lamp, felt pads) → invest (acoustic panels, noise-cancelling) —

each tagged with the landmine it removes and rough impact

• A portable sensory kit for spaces you can't change (the office, the train,

the family home): what to carry and how to use it without a scene

• A quick-win list: the three changes to make today

Required Inputs

Ask for (if not already provided):

• The space and how it's used (the desk you sit at 8 hours, the bedroom you can't

sleep in, the commute that frays you)

• What the user already notices bothers them, and what they suspect but aren't sure

of ("I'm wiped after work but the work is fine")

• Which senses run hot vs seek input — some people are overwhelmed by sound but

crave deep pressure; sensory profiles are individual, so ask, don't assume

• Constraints: rented (can't drill), shared space, budget, a boss to negotiate with

Framework

1. Go sense by sense, deliberately. Overload hides in the senses we don't name.

Walk sight → sound → touch → smell → temperature → movement/body. For each,

ask what's constant, what's unpredictable (unpredictable is worse), and what the

user has habituated to but is still paying for.

1. Distinguish over- from under-stimulation. Not all sensory need is "too

much" — many ND people seek input (movement, pressure, chewing, noise) and

suffer without it. The audit finds both the landmines to remove and the inputs

to add (a fidget, a weighted lap pad, a walk).

1. Flicker and hum are the usual villains. Fluorescent/LED flicker and constant

low hums (HVAC, fridges, monitors) are top offenders that people rarely suspect.

Flag them specifically; the fix (warm lamp instead of overhead, white noise to

mask unpredictable sound) is often free-to-cheap and high-impact.

1. Rank by cost, front-load the free. Most transformative fixes cost nothing —

relocating the desk away from the walkway, switching off the overhead light,

headphones. Put those first; reserve "invest" for the genuine bottlenecks.

1. Pack for the immovable spaces. For the office/train/relatives' house: a kit

(loop earplugs, tinted glasses, a fidget, a scent you control, an exit-and-reset

plan) plus, where relevant, a plainly-worded accommodation ask — but the kit

works even when the ask isn't safe.

Output Format

## Sensory map — [space]
| Sense | Landmine (constant/unpredictable) | Over or under? | Currently costing |

## Fix list (ranked)
Free today: … · Cheap: … · Invest: …
Add (input-seeking): [fidgets, pressure, movement — if relevant]

## Portable kit (for spaces you can't change)
[What to carry · how to use it low-key · the reset plan]

## Do these three today
[The highest impact-per-effort wins]

Quality Checks

• [ ] All senses walked, including the easily-missed (proprioception, temperature,

interoception), not just sight/sound

• [ ] The audit distinguishes over-stimulation from input-seeking, per this user
• [ ] Flicker and constant hums are specifically checked
• [ ] The free fixes are listed first and the today-list is genuinely doable today
• [ ] The portable kit works even where the user can't modify the space or disclose

Anti-Patterns

• [ ] Do not assume a generic sensory profile — ask what runs hot vs seeks input;

two ND people can need opposite things

• [ ] Do not lead with expensive gear — the highest-ROI fixes are usually free

rearrangement and switching off the overhead light

• [ ] Do not frame sensory needs as fussiness or something to toughen up against
• [ ] Do not require disclosure or accommodation to help — the kit and the free

fixes are the user's to deploy privately

• [ ] Do not diagnose — this audits an environment; SPD/autism/migraine assessment

belongs with a clinician, and persistent overload that fixes don't touch

deserves one

Related

[[masking-budget]] — ambient sensory cost is a huge hidden line in the mask budget;

[[meltdown-map]] when overload tips into shutdown; [[attention-reset]] for the

digital-sensory layer.