Sound perception of children aged 2–6 years with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

According to prior research, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) process auditory signals differently from typically developing (TD) children. However, their sound perception still needs to be clarified. In this study, an in-depth interview with teachers was carried out to investigate the sound perception dimensions and process of ASD children aged 2–6 years when they were listening to sounds in their daily lives. An experiment was then conducted to explore the sound preference of the ASD and TD children. The following results were obtained: 1) The interview showed that the sound perception dimensions of ASD children included loudness, musicality, complexity, spectrum component, and familiarity. 2) The sound perception process of ASD children included selective listening, cognition, and anticipation. 3) The sound preference of ASD children was associated with their auditory profile rather than psychoacoustic parameters such as tonality, sharpness, and roughness which differed from the situation of TD children.