Toddler makes noise when concentrating

[batdog]

When our son is concentrating on something, or involved in a task he often makes a strange continuous noise. Difficult to describe (or spell) but it comes from the back of his throat and is like he has been asked to say AAAAH! by the doctor. His mouth is not wide open though. Occasionally he'll change the pitch or tone of it. However, it is very loud and distracting and people always comment on it or are surprised by the noise.

He is now 27 months old and has been doing it for over a year. It did die down for a period, but seems to have come back with a vengeance.

He has been referred to audiology for a hearing test as the health visitor and doctors think it may be hearing related, or indicate a noise in his head, but he doesn't appear to have any hearing difficulties and only seems to make the noise when he's concentrating, like reading a book, playing with his Brio, riding his trike or pushing a trolley in the supermarket.

Otherwise, he's a fairly normal toddler, although maybe a bit behind with his speech. This may be the result of him being born with tongue-tie.

Does anyone else have experience of something similar or have any ideas (including ways of stopping it)? As he seems unaware he's doing it, we find it difficult to get him to stop. I thought it may be similar to comfort routines like head banging or hair pulling but I'm not so sure as he never does it when he needs to go to sleep. Neither does it seem related to any stressful outside influences; for example the recent birth of his baby brother.

[Budabang]

Well my DS was a bit older but he did something similar. It was a noise like a duck and we used to say "who let the dusk in". It drove my DH mad but we eventually ignored it and he stopped. He did it through Yr 1 so was 5.

Also makes noise like a car when playing cars. Has done since a toddler.

[batdog]

Thanks for the reply. If only it was a car noise He makes the noise when he's playing with his cars but also when he's looking at a book so he's certainly not trying to imitate the noise of something.

[Elibean]

My BF's dd does almost exactly this - she's 27 months as well, and has done it since she was about 18 months old. She has no hearing problems, and is fairly average with her speech - its just her way of concentrating, bit like humming to herself.

She's probably doing it less now than she used to - at least, when I've seen her - but then again it never died down for a period like your ds's did. She never did it before sleep, just when playing...maybe trying to tune out her big sister/parents/other people and making her own space, IYSWIM? Thats what it looked like from the outside, to me.

Not sure any of that helps, but wanted to answer your post!

[maggiems]

My Dt1 did the same. Not sure when he stopped but it was probably around 3 when he went to nursery school. Although he met his speech milestones he didn?t speak a huge amount when a toddler, maybe not helped by the fact that Dt1 spoke non stop. When the amount he spoke increased his noise making reduced. I do think it was a comfort/habit thing relating to a need for some sort of sensory input/output. It was odd at the time and I remember trying to get him to stop but to no avail. He just grew out of it.

[Turtlechell]

I use to call it "chanting"...eventhough I'm sure that is not what it is called. I use to say "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" a lot when I would write for concentration purposes when I was a child. My parents never tried to stop me (thankfully) and I grew out of it. I wouldn't realize I was doing it and then would catch myself making that noise. I even remember doing this when I was in 3rd grade and the teacher asking me (in a whisper) to try to keep it down. It was embarrassing but I knew it was something that couldn't be helped. I'm sure the kids made fun of me at the time but no one ever teased me to my face because of it... I guess I was lucky. I had a great upbringing and never had a speech problem or anything. It just helped me to concentrate. I don't think it is anything to worry about, but I'm not a doctor so don't take my word for it.

[BrianHa]

Yes! Our daughter does the same thing. She is 2.5 years old now. Does your child still do this?

[MAL6263]

Hi, I know this post is pretty old but I see someone commented somewhat recently so I was hoping someone would see this and respond. My daughter is 27 months and has been doing this since about 9 months. It has changed pitch over time but never seems to go away for good. It died down for a little while but it’s back. She only does it when concentrating and the noise comes from the back of her throat. Sounds like “ehhhhh.” She has met all her speech milestones but doesn’t talk as much as her big sis did. Any time I’ve ever googled this, I always see stories about humming and autism. But she just doesn’t strike me as autistic. Plus her doctor has never been concerned. She said it’ll probably turn into something less distracting over time, like humming. I sure hope so! Lol

[DelaineysMom]

I know it's been a while since this has been posted on, but I literally made an account just to post bc I don't really see anywhere else on the internet talking about it! So my daughter is almost 27 months and she's always made a low pitched hum/grunt/I honestly don't really know how to explain it lol usually only while concentrating a task. But she doesn't do it while watching TV or playing on her tablet, she's ahead of speech milestones and is quite talkative! She doesn't have any hearing issues (other than already having selective hearing lol), her doctor specifically said she has no doubt that she's nowhere close to being on any spectrum at her 2yr check up. BUT I KEEP FORGETTING TO ASK ABOUT IT!!! It's not something she does all all the time, but enough to where we notice it for sure. We've never really acknowledged it around her or tried to get her stop or anything cause it doesn't seem to be causing any problems or anything!

[karryk]

My daughter did this. Somewhere around 3yrs old she seemed to stop of her own accord. She's never done it since and is 5 now 😊 I ignored it for the most part