Sensory Processing Profile Questionnaire (SPQ)

The Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile (A/ASP) is a 60-item self-report questionnaire that explores how you notice and respond to sensory experiences in everyday life.

Developed by Catana Brown and Winnie Dunn, the A/ASP looks at four sensory processing patterns: Low Registration, Sensation Seeking, Sensory Sensitivity, and Sensation Avoiding.

Rather than giving you a single overall sensory score, the A/ASP creates a profile across these four patterns. This can help explain why you may notice some sensations intensely, miss others, actively seek certain sensory experiences, or arrange your environment to avoid sensory input.

Many autistic people experience significant sensory differences, but the A/ASP is not an autism test. Sensory processing patterns also vary considerably among non-autistic people.

You might find the A/ASP helpful if you’ve wondered:

• Why do sounds, lights, textures, smells, or other sensations affect me so strongly?
• Why do I sometimes fail to notice things that other people notice immediately?
• Why do I seek out certain sensations but avoid others?
• Why are busy or unpredictable environments so exhausting?
• Could sensory differences be contributing to overwhelm or difficulties in everyday life?

Taking the A/ASP and receiving your four quadrant scores are free, as always.
Once you receive your scores, you’ll have the option to purchase a PDF with a personalized interpretation of your sensory profile for $3.50.

Take the Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile

Please read each statement and choose the answer that best describes how frequently you respond to sensory experiences in this way.

60 statements · Approximately 10–15 minutes · Free scores · Anonymous

Common reasons people take the Sensory Profile

People often arrive here because:

• Sounds that other people barely notice can feel overwhelming.
• Bright lights, smells, clothing, textures, or touch can be difficult to tolerate.
• Busy environments become exhausting surprisingly quickly.
• They sometimes don’t notice hunger, mess, sounds, or what’s happening around them until someone points it out.
• They seek movement, pressure, music, textures, flavours, or other sensory experiences.
• They deliberately organize their environment to prevent sensory overload.
• They are autistic, ADHD, or exploring neurodivergence and want to understand their sensory experiences more clearly.

Sensory processing isn’t simply about being “more sensitive” or “less sensitive.” The A/ASP is useful because it looks at several different ways that people respond to sensory information.

This version is based on the Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile developed by Brown and Dunn.

Notes on answering the questions

A few things to keep in mind:

• Answer according to how you generally respond, rather than how you feel on one particularly good or difficult day.
• Think about your everyday life across different environments where possible.
• Your response may depend on the particular sensation. Choose the answer that best represents your typical experience.
• Try to consider what you actually experience, including strategies you may automatically use to manage sensory input.
• You may have very different responses to different types of sensory input. This is normal.
• There are no “good” or “bad” sensory profiles.
• The questionnaire describes patterns; it does not diagnose a sensory disorder, autism, ADHD, or another condition.

What do my scores mean?

Unlike questionnaires that produce one total score, the A/ASP produces four quadrant scores:

Low Registration

Low Registration describes how readily you notice sensory information.

People with higher Low Registration scores may need stronger, longer, or more obvious sensory input before they notice it.

For example, you might not notice that someone has called your name, overlook visual information around you, or realize only later that you’re cold, uncomfortable, or surrounded by background noise.

Sensation Seeking

Sensation Seeking describes actively looking for additional or more intense sensory experiences.

People with higher scores may enjoy movement, strong flavours, music, touching interesting textures, changing activities, or environments that provide lots of stimulation.

Seeking sensory input is not necessarily a problem. For many people, it can be enjoyable or regulating.

Sensory Sensitivity

Sensory Sensitivity describes noticing sensory information readily.

People with higher scores may notice sounds, lights, textures, smells, movement, or other sensory events that other people overlook.

For example, you might hear a faint repetitive sound that nobody else seems to notice or find particular clothing textures difficult to ignore.

Sensation Avoiding

Sensation Avoiding describes actively controlling or reducing sensory input.

People with higher scores may create routines, avoid particular environments, choose specific clothing or foods, use headphones, control lighting, or otherwise structure their surroundings to make sensory experiences more manageable.

Understanding your sensory profile

One of the most important things about the A/ASP is that these four patterns are not opposites.

For example, someone can score highly in both Sensory Sensitivity and Sensation Avoiding. They may notice sensory input very readily and actively take steps to reduce it.

Someone can also show both sensory seeking and sensory avoidance depending on the type of sensory experience.

Your results are therefore better understood as a profile rather than a ranking from “not sensory” to “very sensory.”

Your four scores are compared with scores from the questionnaire’s normative sample and described using five ranges:

• Much Less Than Most People
• Less Than Most People
• Similar to Most People
• More Than Most People
• Much More Than Most People

These labels describe how frequently you reported behaviours associated with each sensory pattern compared with the reference group. They do not mean that one result is healthier or better than another.

How valid is the Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile?

The A/ASP is a standardized sensory processing questionnaire with a substantial research history.

The adult measure was developed from Dunn’s model of sensory processing, which proposes that sensory experiences can be understood partly through the interaction between a person’s neurological threshold for noticing sensory input and whether they respond to that input actively or passively.

Original validation

Brown and colleagues (2001) investigated the reliability and validity of the Adult Sensory Profile using data from 615 adult sensory profiles.

The researchers used several methods rather than relying on a single type of validation. These included:

• Expert evaluation of whether the questions represented the proposed sensory processing constructs
• Internal consistency analysis
• Factor analysis
• Analysis of how individual questions related to their proposed scales
• A small physiological study using skin-conductance responses

Expert reviewers found that items could be categorized according to Dunn’s sensory processing model. The physiological component also found different patterns of skin-conductance responses that were broadly consistent with the four-quadrant model.

The original Sensation Avoiding scale showed weaker reliability, and revision of the questionnaire improved its reliability.

Reliability

Research generally supports acceptable internal consistency for the four A/ASP quadrant scores, although reliability varies somewhat by quadrant and study.

Published estimates reported in later research include:

• Low Registration: α = .82
• Sensation Seeking: α = .79
• Sensory Sensitivity: α = .81
• Sensation Avoiding: α = .66

Pearson’s technical report reports coefficient-alpha values ranging from approximately .64 to .78 across age groups and quadrants.

This means the evidence for reliability is generally supportive, but the strength of reliability is not identical across all four sensory patterns.

Convergent validity

More recent independent research has compared the A/ASP with other measures of sensory processing.

Skocic and colleagues (2024) compared the A/ASP with the Sensory Processing Measure 2–Adult Form.

Low Registration, Sensory Sensitivity, and Sensation Avoiding showed significant relationships with all nine SPM-2 Adult subscales, with correlations ranging from approximately .34 to .79.

Sensation Seeking behaved differently and was significantly related only to the SPM-2 Social Participation scale in this study.

This provides additional evidence that several A/ASP quadrants are measuring meaningful sensory-processing constructs, while also suggesting that Sensation Seeking may represent a somewhat different or more complex construct.

What does the validity research mean?

Overall, research supports the A/ASP as a useful standardized measure for describing patterns of sensory processing in adolescents and adults.

However, “validated” does not mean that a questionnaire perfectly measures someone’s sensory system.

The A/ASP is a self-report measure of how you experience and respond to sensory events in everyday life. It does not directly measure neurological sensory thresholds, and its four-quadrant structure should be understood as a useful model for organizing sensory experiences rather than four biological categories into which everyone neatly fits.

What about autism?

Sensory differences are extremely relevant to autism, and unusual responses to sensory input are included within the DSM-5-TR diagnostic criteria for autism.

However, the A/ASP was not designed as an autism screening test.

An autistic person may have pronounced sensory differences, but a particular sensory profile cannot tell you whether someone is autistic. Sensory differences also occur in ADHD and other conditions and among people without a neurodevelopmental diagnosis.

The questionnaire is most useful for answering:

“How do I tend to process and respond to sensory experiences?”

rather than:

“Am I autistic?”

Limitations of the A/ASP

The A/ASP is widely used, but it has important limitations:

• It is a self-report questionnaire, so results depend on your awareness and interpretation of your own experiences.
• It describes sensory processing patterns rather than diagnosing a condition.
• Its four quadrants are a theoretical model of sensory processing rather than distinct biological categories.
• Reliability is not equally strong across all four quadrants.
• Research has not always reproduced the original structure perfectly across every population and cultural adaptation.
• Recent convergent-validity research found particularly strong support for Low Registration, Sensory Sensitivity, and Sensation Avoiding, while Sensation Seeking showed weaker relationships with another adult sensory measure.
• Someone’s sensory responses can also be influenced by environment, stress, fatigue, burnout, health, and other factors.

Because of this, your scores are most useful when considered alongside your actual sensory experiences and how those experiences affect your daily life.

Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile Frequently Asked Questions

Does the A/ASP give me an overall sensory score?

No. The A/ASP is designed to produce four separate quadrant scores: Low Registration, Sensation Seeking, Sensory Sensitivity, and Sensation Avoiding.

This is intentional. Sensory processing is multidimensional, and combining all four patterns into one total score would remove much of the information the questionnaire is designed to provide.

Does a “Much More Than Most People” result mean something is wrong?

No.

It means that you reported behaviours associated with that sensory pattern more frequently than people in the questionnaire’s reference group.

It is a comparison, not a diagnosis or judgment.

The important question is whether that sensory pattern helps explain your experiences and whether it supports or interferes with your everyday life.

Can I score high in more than one quadrant?

Yes.

The four patterns are not mutually exclusive. You can have high scores in several quadrants at the same time.

For example, you might be highly sensitive to unpredictable sound and actively avoid noisy environments while also seeking strong pressure or movement.

Looking at the combination of your scores is often more informative than looking at any one quadrant alone.

Why can I seek some sensations but avoid others?

Sensory processing can differ considerably between sensory systems and situations.

You might seek movement but avoid loud sound, enjoy strong flavours but dislike particular textures, or tolerate sensory input well when rested but find the same environment overwhelming when exhausted.

The A/ASP captures broad patterns. It cannot represent every sensory preference or every context in which your responses change.

Can the A/ASP diagnose autism?

No.

Sensory differences are common in autistic people and are relevant to autism diagnosis, but the A/ASP measures sensory processing patterns rather than autism.

A sensory profile can provide useful information when exploring autism, but it cannot determine whether someone meets diagnostic criteria.

Why do my Sensory Sensitivity and Sensation Avoiding scores seem similar?

They are related but describe different aspects of sensory processing.

Sensory Sensitivity is primarily about readily noticing sensory information.

Sensation Avoiding includes actively doing something to limit or control sensory input.

For example, noticing the hum of an appliance immediately would fit Sensory Sensitivity. Leaving the room, turning it off, or wearing headphones to avoid the sound reflects an active avoidance response.

You can therefore score highly on one, both, or neither.

Why is my Low Registration score high if I’m also very sensitive?

This can happen.

You may notice some forms of sensory information immediately while being slower to notice others. Sensory processing can vary by sensory system, environment, attention, fatigue, and context.

A high score in one quadrant therefore does not automatically contradict a high score in another.

Can ADHD affect my sensory profile?

Yes. Sensory processing differences are not unique to autism, and people with ADHD can also experience sensory seeking, sensitivity, avoidance, or difficulty registering sensory information.

The A/ASP itself does not determine why you have a particular sensory pattern.

Can sensory processing change depending on stress or burnout?

Your underlying tendencies may be relatively consistent, but your ability to tolerate and manage sensory input can change.

Many people notice that sensory experiences become harder to manage when they are tired, stressed, overwhelmed, ill, or experiencing burnout.

When completing the questionnaire, try to think about your typical patterns rather than only your best or worst periods.

Research behind the A/ASP

Brown C, Tollefson N, Dunn W, Cromwell R, Filion D. (2001). The Adult Sensory Profile: Measuring patterns of sensory processing. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 55(1), 75–82.

This is the seminal psychometric study underlying the adult measure. It examined construct validity, reliability, factor structure, item performance, and preliminary physiological evidence.

Brown C, Dunn W. (2002). Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile: User’s Manual. Psychological Corporation.

This is the primary manual for the standardized A/ASP and its four-quadrant interpretation.

Skocic D, Brown T, Yu M-L, Reed K. (2024). Convergent validity of two adult self-report sensory scales: Comparing the Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile and the Sensory Processing Measure 2–Adult Form. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 71(6), 897–909.

This independent study provides recent evidence of convergent validity, particularly for Low Registration, Sensory Sensitivity, and Sensation Avoiding.

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