Understanding Speech in Noise by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often display a heightened sensitivity to environmental noises. In addition, it is well known that even typically-developing children struggle to understand speech in noisy situations. However, it is unclear how children with ASD perform on speech tasks when background noise is present. A study was conducted to determine whether children with high-functioning ASD perform more poorly than typically-developing children on word recognition in noise. Two groups of children, typically-developing individuals and individuals with high-functioning ASD, aged 6-12 years participated. Word recognition was measured in four types of background noise: speech-shaped noise, babble-modulated speech-shaped noise, multi-talker babble, and time-reversed multi-talker babble. A group of typically-developed adults served as a control. Results and implications will be discussed