Multisensory Speech Perception in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

This study examined unisensory and multisensory speech perception in 8–17 year old children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and typically developing controls matched on chronological age, sex, and IQ. Consonant– vowel syllables were presented in visual only, auditory only, matched audio-visual, and mismatched audiovisual (“McGurk”) conditions. Participants with ASD displayed deficits in visual only and matched audiovisual speech perception. Additionally, children with ASD reported a visual influence on heard speech in response to mismatched audiovisual syllables over a wider window of time relative to controls. Correlational analyses revealed associations between multisensory speech perception, communicative characteristics, and responses to sensory stimuli in ASD. Results suggest atypical speech perception is linked to broader behavioral characteristics of ASD.

Multisensory Integration of Low-level Information in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Measuring Susceptibility to the Flash-Beep Illusion

“…Various researchers have determined that there does exist an extended temporal binding window in ASD, meaning that individuals with ASD continue to integrate sensory information over a larger gap in time than do TD individuals (Foss-Feig et al 2010;Kwakye et al 2011;Woynaroski et al 2013). The current results indicating that the ASD group had significantly lower accuracy than the TD group on the 2F1B (i.e., fusion illusion) and 2F0B trials may be explained by the presence of an expanded temporal binding window.…”

“…The McGurk effect (i.e., illusory auditory perception influenced by discordant visual information) has been one frontrunner paradigm for studying MSI in TD individuals as well as in ASD (Foxe and Molholm 2009;Iarocci and McDonald 2006). While some studies have identified a diminished McGurk effect in ASD (Bebko et al 2014;Mongillo et al 2008;Williams et al 2004), others have found that the effect is contingent on developmental factors (Taylor et al 2010), socio-communicative impairments (Iarocci et al 2010, or task-related temporal factors (Woynaroski et al 2013).The speech-in-noise paradigm, which is based on the facilitatory effect of multisensory stimulation, has also been used to better understand multisensory integration processes in typical development as well as in ASD. Using the speech-in noise approach to compare adolescents with Abstract Previous studies have suggested audiovisual multisensory integration (MSI) may be atypical in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).…”

“…The McGurk effect (i.e., illusory auditory perception influenced by discordant visual information) has been one frontrunner paradigm for studying MSI in TD individuals as well as in ASD (Foxe and Molholm 2009;Iarocci and McDonald 2006). While some studies have identified a diminished McGurk effect in ASD (Bebko et al 2014;Mongillo et al 2008;Williams et al 2004), others have found that the effect is contingent on developmental factors (Taylor et al 2010), socio-communicative impairments (Iarocci et al 2010), or task-related temporal factors (Woynaroski et al 2013).…”

Testing Sensory and Multisensory Function in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…There is currently some debate in the literature about differences in multisensory integration as indexed by McGurk perception. Some groups have found that TD subjects have increased McGurk perception compared with ASD subjects 27,36 , while others have found that ASD subjects had higher McGurk perception 37 . Some of these discrepancies may be explained by differences in the McGurk stimulus used in each study.…”

“…Along with its utility in characterizing multisensory temporal function in "neurotypical" populations across the lifespan, elements of the described task battery have been used to assess sensory and multisensory processes in individuals with ASD [26][27][28]37 . Although sensory disturbances have been classically associated with autism, it is only recently that these disturbances have entered the diagnostic vernacular, and that a stronger appreciation of how altered multisensory function may contribute to the autism phenotype has been gained.…”