Auditory spatial attention to speech and complex non-speech sounds in children with autism spectrum disorder.
Laura N Soskey, Paul D Allen, Loisa Bennetto
PMID 28371413WHAT IT FOUND
When listening to sounds straight ahead, children with autism responded more to nearby non-target sounds than controls, even when detecting the target sound was similar.
The study did not show a speech-specific difficulty.
Key findings
01When attending straight ahead, children with ASD detected the target sound as accurately as controls but responded more to nearby non-target sounds.
02In the ASD group, more diffuse central spatial attention was associated with more severe ASD symptoms, not with parent-reported inattention or hyperactivity.
03There was no significant group difference in how speech and non-speech sounds affected spatial attention, and the study may not have been sensitive enough to rule out a small effect.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The final sample was small, with 16 participants with ASD and 18 controls. Participants were older children and adolescents, all male, and had average to above average IQ, so results may not generalise to younger children, girls, or people with lower cognitive ability. The apparatus tested only the right side of space, not both sides. The attend-right condition is difficult to interpret because many participants could not reliably distinguish the two most peripheral speakers. The speech stimulus was an isolated vowel, not words or natural speech, so it may not capture full speech complexity. The null stimulus-type result may not be definitive; the follow-up analysis said the data may not be sensitive enough to rule out a small effect. Some recruited participants were excluded because they could not complete the tasks, data were unusable, or one appeared not to perform the task.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that children with autism have a speech-specific auditory spatial attention deficit. The study did not find a significant difference in how speech and non-speech sounds affected spatial attention, and the follow-up analysis said the data may not have been sensitive enough to rule out a small effect.