Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, The University of Melbourne, Carlton, VIC 3053, Australia; Phonak, Sonova AG, Stäfa, Switzerland.
Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76201, United States.
J Commun Disord. 2022 Sep-Oct;99:106252. doi: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2022.106252. Epub 2022 Aug 10.
Auditory challenges are both common and disruptive for autistic children and evidence suggests that listening difficulties may be linked to academic underachievement (Ashburner, Ziviani & Rodger, 2008). Such deficits may also contribute to issues with attention, behavior, and communication (Ashburner et al., 2008; Riccio, Cohen, Garrison & Smith, 2005). The present study aims to summarize the auditory challenges of autistic children with normal pure-tone hearing thresholds, and perceived listening difficulties, seen at auditory-ASD clinics in the US and Australia.
Data were compiled on a comprehensive, auditory-focused test battery in a large clinical sample of school-age autistic children with normal pure-tone hearing to date (N = 71, 6-14 years). Measures included a parent-reported auditory sensory processing questionnaire and tests of speech recognition in noise, binaural integration, attention, auditory memory and listening comprehension. Individual test performance was compared to normative data from children with no listening difficulties.
Over 40% of patients exhibited significantly reduced speech recognition in noise and abnormal dichotic integration that were not attributed to deficits in attention. The majority of patients (86%) performed abnormally on at least one auditory measure, suggesting that functional auditory issues can exist in autistic patients despite normal pure-tone sensitivity.
Including functional listening measures during audiological evaluations may improve clinicians' ability to detect and manage the auditory challenges impacting this population. Learner Outcomes: 1) Readers will be able to describe the auditory difficulties experienced by some autistic patients (ASD). 2) Readers will be able to describe clinical measures potentially useful for detecting listening difficulties in high-functioning autistic children.
听觉挑战在自闭症儿童中既常见又具有破坏性，有证据表明，听力困难可能与学业成绩不佳有关（Ashburner、Ziviani 和 Rodger，2008 年）。这些缺陷也可能导致注意力、行为和沟通方面的问题（Ashburner 等人，2008 年；Riccio、Cohen、Garrison 和 Smith，2005 年）。本研究旨在总结美国和澳大利亚的听觉自闭症诊所中，那些纯音听力阈值正常但存在感知听力困难的自闭症儿童的听觉挑战。
迄今为止，我们对大量学龄自闭症儿童进行了全面的听觉重点测试，这些儿童的纯音听力正常（N=71，6-14 岁）。研究中包括父母报告的听觉感觉处理问卷以及在噪声环境下的言语识别、双耳整合、注意力、听觉记忆和听力理解测试。将个体测试表现与无听力困难儿童的正常数据进行比较。
超过 40%的患者表现出明显的噪声环境下言语识别能力下降和异常的双听整合，这些问题不能归因于注意力缺陷。大多数患者（86%）在至少一项听觉测试中表现异常，这表明尽管纯音听力正常，但功能性听觉问题可能存在于自闭症患者中。
在听力评估中纳入功能性听力测试可能会提高临床医生发现和管理影响这一人群的听觉挑战的能力。学习者成果：1. 读者将能够描述一些自闭症患者（ASD）所经历的听觉困难。2. 读者将能够描述在高功能自闭症儿童中检测听力困难的潜在有用的临床措施。
