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An acoustic analysis of prosody in high-functioning autism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2009

JOSHUA J. DIEHL ,
DUANE WATSON ,
LOISA BENNETTO ,
JOYCE MCDONOUGH  and
CHRISTINE GUNLOGSON
JOSHUA J. DIEHL*
Affiliation:
University of Rochester, Yale University School of Medicine, and Haskins Laboratories
DUANE WATSON
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
LOISA BENNETTO
Affiliation:
University of Rochester
JOYCE MCDONOUGH
Affiliation:
University of Rochester
CHRISTINE GUNLOGSON
Affiliation:
University of Rochester
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Joshua Diehl, Haskins Laboratories, 300 George Street, Suite 900, New Haven, CT 06511. E-mail: joshua.diehl@yale.edu
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Abstract

This paper examined the fundamental frequency variation in the narratives of individuals with high-functioning autism (HFA) and typical controls matched on age, IQ, and verbal abilities. Study 1 found increased fundamental frequency variation in the speech of 21 children and adolescents with HFA when compared to 21 typical controls. Study 2 replicated the findings from Study 1 with a younger sample of 17 children with HFA and 17 typical controls. In addition, Study 1 found evidence that acoustic measurements of prosody were related to clinical judgments of autism-specific communication impairments, although this was not replicated in Study 2. Taken together, these studies provide evidence for differences in expressive prosody in individuals with HFA that can be measured objectively.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , July 2009 , pp. 385 - 404
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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