We first met Taylor when she got in touch with us to let us know how helpful she was finding Calmer - since then we've learnt more about her journey and how being diagnosed as autistic at 31 years old left her with as many questions as it did answers. Taylor has since created some wonderfully helpful content to empower other neurodivergent people and their families.

Over to you Taylor...!

Hi my name is Taylor Heaton.

I’m a mom of two and one of my hobbies is collecting instruments. Flute is my specialty, but I also have fun with my purple saxophone, djembe, ocarina, ukulele, guitar… and a few others. I spend my time doing yoga, having dance parties in the kitchen with my kids and working on my company, Mom on the Spectrum.

When it comes to processing sensory information, I have many aversions that I was not particularly conscious of until lately. I received my autism diagnosis at the age of 31 and began learning how to better understand my needs, and a significant need I uncovered was help with regular sensory processing throughout the day.

For decades I had not registered how much extraneous sounds bothered me, or at the very least I had suppressed my discomfort and masked over it to make it tolerable.

Once I became aware of how much I was affected by sensory information throughout the day, I also became aware of how much better I felt when I took time to manage the stress it caused by either preventing it altogether or taking time to decompress after upsetting situations.

I started trying out different earbuds suggested to me through the autistic community at Mom on the Spectrum, but none of them did the trick.

They blocked too much sound, made my chewing sounds maddening, or made my voice sound intolerably loud. I decided the discomfort of wearing something bulky in my ears only to take it out when eating or talking was not worth the hassle.

Then my friend messaged me about Calmer...

She told me she couldn’t explain how much they helped her, I just had to experience them for myself. She told me the difference was small and life changing at the same time. She didn’t notice a huge difference until she took them out and felt unbalanced without them. She said she brought them with her everywhere and didn’t know how she managed without them up until this point. A very emphatic endorsement! Calmer earbuds had a lot to live up to.

I placed my order feeling skeptical and like the bar had been set too high. Once they came in, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the design fit my ears. I could put them in and forget they were there - so much less bulky than others I had tried! I also loved the opening at the bottom of the earbud which lets sounds pass through rather than blocking them.

Rather than sounds being muffled, which drives me mad, sounds are filtered in a way that makes them more tolerable. The upsetting highs and lows are smoother and less pointed. And wearing Calmer earbuds while listening to music is an added bonus! It’s like an added layer of intriguing sounds that are easier to process and identify.

I messaged my friend back and told her she was right, and why didn’t she tell me about these earbuds sooner?!

Thanks, Calmer, for helping me manage my sensory processing difficulties as an autistic adult! 

Find out more about Calmer here

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Taylors TikTok -  Taylors YouTube -  Taylors Instagram -  Taylors Website