| dc.description.abstract | Purpose: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit deficits in performance on auditory-based tasks, especially in the presence of background noise, as compared to neurotypical peers. Speech perception-in-noise difficulties could detrimentally impact speech and language development, communication within family units, social relationships, academic achievements, and eventual vocational success. This study explored the effects of short-term remote microphone (RM) system use in home environments on auditory and communicative behaviors in a cohort of children diagnosed with ASD (aged 3 to 6 years) and their caregivers.
Methods: Language Environmental Analysis (LENA™) recorders were used with 18 families during two consecutive weekends – one weekend while the child-caregiver used an RM system and one weekend without this device. To examine the impact of RM system use on auditory and communicative behaviors, the following measurements were collected using data from the LENA recorders: (1) child vocalization rate; (2) primary caregiver vocalization rate; (3) quantity of dyadic conversational turns between the child and caregiver; and (4) number of caregiver-produced repetitions and alerting phrases directed toward the child during verbal interactions. In addition, caregivers’ qualitative perceptions of RM system use were gathered via a self-report questionnaire. Of note, 13 other enrolled children could not tolerate RM system use and were eliminated from the study.
Results: Findings revealed that when using an RM system, caregivers produced fewer verbal repetitions and alerting phrases than when not using RM system technology, on average. Second, RM system use yielded, on average, no significant differences in caregivers’ number of vocalizations or frequency of child vocalizations between conditions. Third, on average, the quantity of conversational turn counts per minute per caregiver-child dyad differed both by condition (more conversational turns with RM use versus no RM use) and by distance (more turns from a close versus far range). Lastly, caregivers reported various listening improvements for their children with ASD, including enhanced responsiveness and greater ease of family communication, when using an RM system.
Conclusions: Findings from this study could serve to inform clinical management recommendations for children with ASD and to educate professionals about potential benefits and limitations of RM system use for families. | |
