Impaired Timing and Frequency Discrimination in High Functioning-Autism Spectrum Disorders

2014

Elizabeth Laugeson
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310-267-3370

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders frequently demonstrate preserved or enhanced frequency demonstrate enhanced frequency perception but impaired timing perception. The present study investigated the processing of spectral and temporal information in 12 adolescents with ASD and 15 age matched controls. Participants completed two psychoacoustic tasks: one determined frequency difference limens, and the other determined gap detection thresholds. Results showed impaired frequency discrimination at the highest standard frequency in the ASD group but no overall difference between groups. However when groups were defined by auditory hyper sensitivity a group difference arose. For the gap detection task, the ASD group demonstrated elevated thresholds. This supports previous research demonstrating a deficit in ASD in temporal perception and suggests a connection between hyper sensitivity and frequency discrimination abilities.

Autism spectrum disorders, Individuals with disabilities, High functioning, Timing perception

Peer-reviewed publications in scholarly journals Published/In Press

Professionals

Electronic (disc, CD, 508 compliant web posting)

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