Can a neurotypical actor align their speech acoustically to autistic speech patterns for roles in the media?

Abstract

Canonically autistic characters are represented in television, but these roles have often been filled by neurotypical actors. One criterion of autism diagnoses includes differences in speech, often described as “monotonic” or “robotic.” This study comparatively analyzed the speech of a neurotypical actor in an autistic role with that of autistic actors within neutral and emotional conditions. Acoustic measures included fundamental frequency (F0), duration, and intensity. Speech samples (n = 87) were collected from the television show Atypical and acoustically analyzed using PRAAT. Results showed that the F0 range, syllable duration range, and intensity range for the neurotypical actor in the autistic role was significantly more similar to neurotypical actors than autistic actors, though the change in syllable duration between conditions was significantly more similar to autistic actors. Additionally, a survey was developed in which participants listened to audio clips of the speech samples rating them on a Likert scale of “typical” to “atypical.” Results showed that the neurotypical actor in the autistic role was rated as atypical. Overall, it was concluded that neurotypical actors may not acoustically align with autistic actors, but they are successful in the perceived effect of atypicality based on the perception of their speech patterns by an audience.