Autistic musicians and sensory issues?

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Hi there! I'm a singer and musician who loves all things Frank Sinatra, the Great American Songbook, etc. I've even started posting my covers online and people like them! I grew up doing theatre and performing music, but sensory wise it has gotten so much harder as I've gotten older (started in my teen years, now I'm 21), that I no longer perform live in such loud venues. I wear ear plugs in most loud places (restaurants, etc.). My dream would be singing as a full career, but I am not sure how this would work considering my sensory issues. Ear plugs muffle the sound and it is harder to hear pitch and the music in general. Are there others who have(/had) this issue? What, if anything, has helped? Thank you very much for reading my post

TLDR; how do autistic musicians deal with sensory issues relating to sound?

Hello. I also am a musician of types, as well as sound engineer.

I also suffer from ASD and suffer from misophonia (hypersensitivity to auditory sensory information), as well as lacking the normal ability to be able to filter out all but the auditory source of interest.

My hypersensitivity also got worse as time went on, this also became more apparent when I moved from the country side where i grew up, on a family orientated housing estate in the suburbs surrounded by fields.

Moving into a small flat in a big city, where life didn't stop, was a big culture shock and aggravated my condition.
Also, as you grew older, other things can happen especially to people with ASD and especially to boys.

Firstly, after 15, after the testosterone boost that boys get from puberty. Testosterone levels drop and other stress hormones often increase.

For some, this increase in bad stress hormones, if prolonged for long enough eventually causes anxiety, then damage to a part of the brain that causes depression, and then if prolonged for long enough, then also causes more damage to cause more long term anxiety disorders.

These anxiety problems are more likely to make your sensory issues worse.
At the mo, there is no cure for sensory hypersensitivity. Wearing ear plugs all the time has proven to actually make people more hypersensitive.

That said, there are some products on the market that may help.
Pro Audiologists should be able to help you with this.

A pro Audiologist should be able to take a mould of your ear canals and send them off to a company that makes pro ear plugs to your spec.

there are a few companies that make earplugs that block out most sound (apart from sounds picked up from the cranium).

There are some companies that turn down all frequencies by 30 dB, which makes being in a sensory busy environment more bearable.

Another idea for some is to wear in-ear monitors, often used by pro musicians while on stage.
As in-ear monitors can be used to block out all other sound but also play your backing track and your own voice.

This can help you block out everything but your own music, which would help you perform and focus.
You would have to be really nice to your monitor mix sound engineer though to make sure he doesn't mess your monitor mix up, as he has the power to piss you off.

I don't see any reason why you cant have 2 in ear monitors, which could work as ear plugs to turn down environmental noise, and turn up only what you want to hear.