Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Autism Res. 2022 Nov;15(11):2099-2111. doi: 10.1002/aur.2804. Epub 2022 Sep 3.
Timing is critical to successful social interactions. The temporal structure of dyadic vocal interactions emerges from the rhythm, timing, and frequency of each individuals' vocalizations and reflects how the dyad dynamically organizes and adapts during an interaction. This study investigated the temporal structure of vocal interactions longitudinally in parent-child dyads of typically developing (TD) infants (n = 49; 9-18 months; 48% male) and toddlers with ASD (n = 23; 27.2 ± 5.0 months; 91.3% male) to identify how developing language and social skills impact the temporal dynamics of the interaction. Acoustic hierarchical temporal structure (HTS), a measure of the nested clustering of acoustic events across multiple timescales, was measured in free play interactions using Allan Factor. HTS reflects a signal's temporal complexity and variability, with greater HTS indicating reduced flexibility of the dyadic system. Child expressive language significantly predicted HTS (ß = -0.2) longitudinally across TD infants, with greater dyadic HTS associated with lower child language skills. ASD dyads exhibited greater HTS (i.e., more rigid temporal structure) than nonverbal matched (d = 0.41) and expressive language matched TD dyads (d = 0.28). Increased HTS in ASD dyads occurred at timescales >1 s, suggesting greater structuring of pragmatic aspects of interaction. Results provide a new window into how language development and social reciprocity serve as constraints to shape parent-child interaction dynamics and showcase a novel automated approach to characterizing vocal interactions across multiple timescales during early childhood.
时间对于成功的社交互动至关重要。对偶发声互动的时间结构源于每个个体发声的节奏、定时和频率，反映了双体在互动过程中如何动态组织和适应。本研究纵向调查了典型发育（TD）婴儿（n=49；9-18 个月；48%为男性）和自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童（n=23；27.2±5.0 个月；91.3%为男性）的亲子对偶发声互动中的时间结构，以确定发展中的语言和社交技能如何影响互动的时间动态。声学层次时间结构（HTS），一种衡量多个时间尺度上声学事件嵌套聚类的方法，使用 Allan 因子在自由游戏互动中进行测量。HTS 反映了信号的时间复杂性和可变性，具有更高 HTS 的信号表明双体系统的灵活性降低。儿童表达性语言显著预测了 TD 婴儿的 HTS（ß=-0.2）随时间的纵向变化，更大的双体 HTS 与儿童语言技能较低相关。ASD 对偶体比非言语匹配（d=0.41）和表达性语言匹配 TD 对偶体（d=0.28）表现出更高的 HTS（即更刚性的时间结构）。ASD 对偶体的 HTS 增加发生在>1s 的时间尺度上，表明互动的语用方面的结构更大。结果为研究语言发展和社会互惠如何作为限制因素来塑造亲子互动动态提供了新的视角，并展示了一种新颖的自动方法来描述幼儿期多个时间尺度上的发声互动。
