Multimodal speech perception in noise after multisensory perceptual training in autistic children and adolescents

Autistic children and adolescents exhibit alterations in multisensory processing of simple audiovisual stimuli and complex speech stimuli. Multisensory perceptual training has been demonstrated to enhance audiovisual simultaneity judgment in typically developed (TD) adults, thereby facilitating speech comprehension in noise. In this study, we hypothesized that multisensory training enhances audiovisual integration and speech comprehension in noise in autistic children and adolescents. A brief simultaneity judgment task (SJT) with feedback was selected as the training paradigm and administered to 19 autistic participants (aged 8–17). Simple, audiovisual integration and speech comprehension were assessed before training (T0), immediately after training (T1), seven (T2) and 14 days (T3) after training. For simple audiovisual stimuli, simultaneity perception was shown to be more precise immediately after multisensory training with the effects lasting over a period of seven days. In a Word Recognition Task (WRT), no significant improvements were demonstrated following the training. This study suggests that multisensory perceptual training enhances simultaneity perception in autistic youth with the effects lasting at least seven days. Subsequent studies must elucidate which variables moderate training outcomes in order to determine how training paradigms should be designed to enhance speech comprehension and increase training effects in autistic individuals.