Can children with autism spectrum disorders hear a speaking face?

摘要

This study used eye-tracking methodology to assess audiovisual (AV) speech perception in 26 children ranging in age from 5-15 years, half with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and half with typical development (TD). Given the characteristic reduction in gaze to the faces of others in children with ASD, it was hypothesized that they would show reduced influence of visual information on heard speech. Responses were compared on a set of auditory, visual and audiovisual speech perception tasks. Even when fixated on the face of the speaker, children with ASD were less visually influenced than TD controls. This indicates fundamental differences in the processing of AV speech in children with ASD, which may contribute to their language and communication impairments.