Abnormal speech spectrum and increased pitch variability in young autistic children.
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who can speak often exhibit abnormal voice quality and speech prosody, but the exact nature and underlying mechanisms of these abnormalities, as well as their diagnostic power are currently unknown. Here we quantified speech abnormalities in terms of the properties of the long-term average spectrum (LTAS) and pitch variability in speech samples of 83 children (41 with ASD, 42 controls) ages 4-6.5 years, recorded while they named a sequence of daily life pictures for 60 s. We found a significant difference in the group's average spectra, with ASD spectra being shallower and exhibiting less harmonic structure. Contrary to the common impression of monotonic speech in autism, the ASD children had a significantly larger pitch range and variability across time. A measure of this variability, optimally tuned for the sample, yielded 86% success (90% specificity, 80% sensitivity) in classifying ASD in the sample. These results indicate that speech abnormalities in ASD are reflected in its spectral content and pitch variability. This variability could imply abnormal processing of auditory feedback or elevated noise and instability in the mechanisms that control pitch. The current results are a first step toward developing speech spectrum-based bio-markers for early diagnosis of ASD.
Department of Human Biology, University of Haifa Haifa, Israel.
Yoram S
YS
Bonneh
Yoram
Y
Levanon
Omrit
O
Dean-Pardo
Lan
L
Lossos
Yael
Y
Adini
Neurosci Lett. 2010 Jun 30;478(1):42-5
20447444
Am J Psychiatry. 2004 Nov;161(11):2117-20
15514415
J Autism Dev Disord. 2000 Aug;30(4):345-54
11039860
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Jul 27;107(30):13354-9
20643944
J Neurosci. 2010 Aug 11;30(32):10612-23
20702694
Lancet. 2009 Nov 7;374(9701):1627-38
19819542
Folia Phoniatr (Basel). 1993;45(2):53-61
8325570
J Voice. 2005 Jun;19(2):211-22
15907436
J Cogn Neurosci. 2002 Nov 15;14(8):1125-38
12495520
Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2003 Oct-Dec;38(4):325-50
14578051
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2001 Oct;44(5):1097-115
11708530
J Autism Dev Disord. 1981 Mar;11(1):45-56
6927698
J Autism Dev Disord. 2009 Nov;39(11):1499-508
19499319
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 1999 Aug;42(4):850-61
10450906
Pediatr Clin North Am. 2007 Jun;54(3):563-83, vii
17543910
J Neurosci. 2004 Oct 20;24(42):9228-31
15496656
Acta Paedopsychiatr. 1968;35(4):100-36
4880460
J Autism Dev Disord. 2005 Apr;35(2):205-20
15909407
J Psycholinguist Res. 2007 Mar;36(2):159-73
17136465
Nat Neurosci. 2004 Aug;7(8):801-2
15258587
Folia Phoniatr (Basel). 1987;39(5):221-9
3679030
J Autism Dev Disord. 2007 May;37(5):948-59
17171541
J Speech Hear Res. 1995 Aug;38(4):794-811
7474973
Brain Dev. 2003 Apr;25(3):166-72
12689694
J Autism Dev Disord. 1999 Oct;29(5):349-57
10587881
Proc Biol Sci. 2010 Oct 7;277(1696):2935-43
20484237