Auditory Behaviors of Children and Adolescents with Pervasive Developmental Disorders

Abstract

Auditory behaviors of 106 children and adolescents were measured by an audiologist during interdisciplinary team evaluations for pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs). The team diagnosed 59 subjects with autism disorder, 15 with Asperger disorder, 13 with PDD not otherwise specified, and 19 with non-PDDs. Subjects' ages, genders, otologic histories, intelligence quotients (IQs), and adaptive behavior scores were typical of children with PDDs. During interviews, parents cited hyperacusis, selective listening, poor eye contact, and distractibility as their child's most common negative auditory behaviors. On the Children's Auditory Performance Scale, most parents rated their child as having more difficulty than peers in auditory memory, auditory attention, listening in noise, and listening while doing another task. Subjects in the autism disorder group generally were younger, had lower IQ and adaptive behaviors scores, showed less tolerance for audiometric procedures, and had the least sophisticated responses during behavioral audiometry. Yet, contrary to longstanding stereotypes, subjects with autism disorder were a heterogeneous group who responded as well, if not better, to speech as to nonspeech stimuli, and although they were sometimes difficult to test with behavioral audiometry, they were rarely impossible to test. In a time of evidence-based practice, audiologists can and should use parent interviews and behavioral audiometry to address auditory behaviors of children and adolescents with PDDs.