Perception of Prosodic Speech Patterns of Autistic Individuals

The purpose of this study was to determine the perception that neurotypical individuals have of autistic individuals’ speech, including their speech prosody. Speech samples were collected from four neurotypical and four autistic young adults as they answered interview questions. Then, 50 neurotypical listeners (28 female, 22 male) were recruited to listen to the speech samples and rate the speech on visual analogy scales on their likeability and ability to communicate. Participants were told prior to listening to the speech samples whether or not the speaker had autism; however, there were both deceptive and truthful listening conditions, with some autistic speakers being labeled by the researchers as neurotypical, and certain neurotypical speakers being labeled as autistic. Ratings for both likeability and ability to communicate were higher for the neurotypical speakers than the autistic speakers; however, in each category, the speakers labeled as autistic by the researchers were rated higher than the speakers labeled as neurotypical speakers. Results of this study show that the speech of neurotypical and autistic individuals is perceived differently by the neurotypical listener, with a potential empathetic response when the listener is made aware of the speaker’s neurodivergence. It is hoped that additional research regarding the perception of speech will be conducted to determine how to improve assessment and treatment of autistic individuals.