Affective Prosody Recognition and Auditory Intervention for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

NCT04427150 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: HKBU 12604418
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 120
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The proposed study aims to examine the abilities of children with ASD to recognize emotional tones of voice - also known as affective prosody - as compared to typically developing (TD) children. Past findings are mixed, and although some studies have found intact performance among individuals with ASD, it is possible that they rely on different underlying mechanisms in processing affective prosody compared to TD children. Our second objective is therefore to examine whether children with ASD have a stronger reliance on psychoacoustic abilities - including rapid auditory processing and pitch direction recognition - to identify emotional stimuli, as compared to TD children. Lastly, the investigators will study whether auditory training targeting psychoacoustic abilities would improve affective prosody recognition among children with ASD. Sixty children with ASD and 60 TD children between 10 to 12 years old will be recruited. Participants' psychoacoustic abilities and affective prosody recognition will be assessed in the pretest. The investigators hypothesize that psychoacoustic abilities are stronger predictors of affective prosody recognition among children with ASD than among TD children. The ASD children will then be randomly assigned to two groups: one group will receive auditory training; the other will be an active control group that receives non-auditory training. Both groups will receive 12 hours of training via a mobile app. The children will be assessed again in the posttest.

Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Change in Accuracy of Affective Prosody Recognition

  Measures the change in the participants' ability in identifying emotional tone of words or sentences (sound stimuli). The participant will be tested before intervention and after intervention. For each test, participants will listen to word or sentences, which are pre-recorded by voice actors, then identify the emotional tone (happy, anger, fear, sad, or neutral) of the stimuli by pressing the corresponding keys on the keyboard. The accuracy of response will be used to assess the participants' ability.

  Before & after 8-week intervention program

• Change in Ability in Discriminating Pitch Differences

  Measures the change the participants' ability in discriminating the pitch between two tones using the Pitch Discrimination Recognition task. The participant will be tested before intervention and after intervention. For each test, participants will listen to two tones and will be required to identify which tone has the higher pitch. The pitch difference between the two tones will change using a "two-down one-up" mechanism with a step-wise adjustment, which means the pitch difference will decrease every two consecutive correct responses or increase for every incorrect response. For every reversal (change from decrease to increase or vice versa) of stimuli, the latest pitch difference will be recorded. The average pitch difference of the final 8 reversals will be used to assess the participants' pitch discrimination ability. Lesser difference indicate stronger ability in discriminating the pitch between two tones.

  Before & after 8-week intervention program

• Change in Accuracy in Processing Rapid Presentation of Two Tones

  Measures the change in the participants' ability in processing two rapid tones using the Rapid Auditory Processing task. The participant will be tested before intervention and after intervention. Two complex tones with fundamental frequency of 100Hz (Low tone) and 305Hz (High tone), each 75ms in duration, will be used throughout the entire test. For each trial, the participant will listen to two tones at ISI of 4ms, 8ms, or 30ms. The participants will be required to replicate the sequence of High or Low tones in each trial as quickly as possible. The accuracy of replicating the sequence will be used to assess the participants' ability.

  Before & after 8-week intervention program

Study Arms (3)

Auditory Training Group

EXPERIMENTAL

12 hours of psychoacoustic training over 8 weeks

Behavioral: Auditory Training

Other Training Group

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

12 hours of non-psychoacoustic training over 8 weeks

Behavioral: Non-auditory training

TD Group

NO INTERVENTION

Interventions

Auditory Training BEHAVIORAL

A series of psychoacoustic training exercises through Posit Science - BrainHQ (mobile app or web-browser version). Each training is approximately 2 minutes

Auditory Training Group

Non-auditory training BEHAVIORAL

A series of non-psychoacoustic training exercises through Posit Science - BrainHQ (mobile app or web-browser version). Each training is approximately 2 minutes

Other Training Group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 8 Years - 14 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Cantonese as mother language
• IQ \> 70
• Children with autism spectrum disorder

You may not qualify if:

• Children diagnosed with dyslexia
• Prior diagnosis of mental disorders

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Hong Kong Baptist University: lead
• The Hong Kong Polytechnic University: collaborator
• Education University of Hong Kong: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Centre of Learning Science

Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

Location

Related Publications (33)

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MeSH Terms

Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Child Development Disorders, Pervasive; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Mental Disorders

Study Officials

• Ann M Lui, PhD

  Hong Kong Baptist University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Model Details: 120 participants (60 children with autism spectrum disorder and 60 typically developed children) will form three groups: Group 1 will contain 30 children with autism spectrum disorder (randomly selected) whom will partake in psychoacoustic intervention training. Group 2 will contain 30 children with autism spectrum disorder (randomly selected) whom will partake in non-psychoacoustic intervention training. Group 3 will contain 60 typically developed children whom will not partake in any training.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 1, 2020
• First Posted: June 11, 2020
• Study Start: September 25, 2020
• Primary Completion: December 31, 2021
• Study Completion: December 31, 2021
• Last Updated: March 31, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Time Frame: Data will be provided when a journal article is published for indefinite time
• Access Criteria: Access to the data will be made public. The link to the database will be provided in the journal article.

Locations

HK (1)