Rethinking Prosody Production in Autism: Nuanced Insights From Individual Differences and Network Analysis Approaches.

Purpose: Prosodic differences between autistic and non-autistic individuals are recognized, but there is a lack of consensus on the specific prosodic features that characterize the "autistic voice" due to widespread heterogeneity and mixed findings. This study seeks to build further understanding of...

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Publicado en:Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research Vol. 69; no. 2; pp. 660 - 679
Autores principales: Liu, Talia, Davison, Kelsey E., Kershenbaum, Ayelet M., Weed, Ethan, Gabrieli, John D. E., Tager-Flusberg, Helen, Zuk, Jennifer
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Feb2026
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Feb2026
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      pub: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
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        atl: Rethinking Prosody Production in Autism: Nuanced Insights From Individual Differences and Network Analysis Approaches.
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          Liu, Talia
          Davison, Kelsey E.
          Kershenbaum, Ayelet M.
          Weed, Ethan
          Gabrieli, John D. E.
          Tager-Flusberg, Helen
          Zuk, Jennifer
        affil:
          Department of Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences, Boston University, MA
          Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
          Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Semiotics, Aarhus University, Denmark
          McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
          Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Boston University, MA
      su:
        Massachusetts
        Autism
        Individuality
        Speech disorders
        Language acquisition
        Pearson correlation (Statistics)
        Research funding
        T-test (Statistics)
        Data analysis
        Cluster analysis (Statistics)
        Scientific observation
        Descriptive statistics
        Analysis of covariance
        Multivariate analysis
        Physiological aspects of speech
        Speech evaluation
        One-way analysis of variance
        Statistics
        Asperger's syndrome
      sug:
        subj:
          Autism
          Individuality
          Speech disorders
          Language acquisition
          Massachusetts
          Pearson correlation (Statistics)
          Research funding
          T-test (Statistics)
          Data analysis
          Cluster analysis (Statistics)
          Scientific observation
          Descriptive statistics
          Analysis of covariance
          Multivariate analysis
          Physiological aspects of speech
          Speech evaluation
          One-way analysis of variance
          Statistics
          Asperger's syndrome
      ab: Purpose: Prosodic differences between autistic and non-autistic individuals are recognized, but there is a lack of consensus on the specific prosodic features that characterize the "autistic voice" due to widespread heterogeneity and mixed findings. This study seeks to build further understanding of the nuances of prosody in autism through individual differences and network analyses. Method: Acoustic analyses were conducted from 66 school-age autistic and non-autistic children and adolescents' narrative generation. Between-groups analyses of pitch- and timing-related prosodic features were conducted, followed by within-group analyses investigating associations between prosodic features and individual differences in overall language skills. Thereafter, established network analysis methods were adopted to detect the communities of participants based on similar prosodic features. Results: Initial between-groups analyses revealed greater pitch range and variation among autistic compared to non-autistic participants, as well as slower speech and articulation rates, although subsequent analyses revealed that speech and articulation rates were associated with overall language skills. Similar to Weed et al. (2024), the community detection algorithm identified three communities of participants clustered by prosodic features (pitch variation, speech and articulation rates, jitter), with various proportions of autistic participants in each community that did not effectively distinguish between autistic and non-autistic participants. Conclusions: Although between-groups differences consistent with similar previous literature have been indicated, community detection analyses further support the notion that prosody in autism may be "different in different ways." This work highlights the importance of moving beyond group-difference approaches in uncovering nuances to individual differences in prosody via within-group and data-driven analysis approaches. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.31011862
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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