Learning about neurodiversity from parents - Auditory gestalt perception of prelinguistic vocalisations

Dajie Zhang; Sigrun Lang; Bernd Wilken; Christa Einspieler; Jeffrey L Neul; Sven Bölte; Daniel Holzinger; Michael Freilinger; Luise Poustka; Jeff Sigafoos; Peter B Marschik

doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2023.104515

Learning about neurodiversity from parents - Auditory gestalt perception of prelinguistic vocalisations

Res Dev Disabil. 2023 Jul:138:104515. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2023.104515. Epub 2023 Apr 25.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany; iDN-Interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, 8036 Graz, Austria; Leibniz Science Campus Primate Cognition, 37077 Göttingen, Germany. Electronic address: dajie.marschik@med.uni-goettingen.de.
² Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany.
³ Social Pediatric Center, Clinic in Kassel, 34125 Kassel, Germany.
⁴ iDN-Interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, 8036 Graz, Austria.
⁵ Pediatrics, Pharmacology, and Special Education, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37203, USA.
⁶ Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND), Centre for Psychiatry Research, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Region Stockholm, Karolinska Institutet & Stockholm Health Care Services, 17176 Stockholm, Sweden; Curtin Autism Research Group, Curtin School of Allied Health, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6845, Australia.
⁷ Institut für Sinnes- und Sprachneurologie, Konventhospital Barmherzige Brüder Linz, 4020 Linz, Austria; Research Institute for Developmental Medicine, Johannes Kepler University Linz, 4040 Linz, Austria.
⁸ Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
⁹ School of Education, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
¹⁰ Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany; iDN-Interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, 8036 Graz, Austria; Leibniz Science Campus Primate Cognition, 37077 Göttingen, Germany; Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND), Centre for Psychiatry Research, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Region Stockholm, Karolinska Institutet & Stockholm Health Care Services, 17176 Stockholm, Sweden.

PMID: 37104989
DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2023.104515

Abstract

Background: Infants with Rett syndrome (RTT) may have subtle anomalies in their prelinguistic vocalisations but the detection of these is difficult, since their conspicuous vocalisations are often interspersed with inconspicuous ones.

Aims and methods: Extending a previous study with predominantly non-parents, the present study sampled parents of children with RTT and aimed to examine their gestalt perception of prelinguistic vocalisations.

Methods and procedure: Parents (n = 76) of female children with RTT listened to vocalisation recordings from RTT and typically developing (TD) infants, including an inconspicuous vocalisation from a RTT girl. For each recording, parents indicated if the vocalisation was produced by a RTT or a TD child.

Results: Overall correct to incorrect identification rate was 2:1, which was comparable to that of the previous study. Intriguingly, parents of RTT children seemed to be sensitive to features characterising the vocalisations of RTT infants, which has especially influenced their perception of the inconspicuous vocalisation from a RTT girl.

Conclusions and implications: These results invite further research on the potential characterising differences between vocalisations from TD infants and infants with divergent neurodevelopment.

Keywords: Auditory gestalt perception; Neurodiversity; Parent; Prelinguistic vocalisation; Rett syndrome.

MeSH terms

Auditory Perception*
Child
Female
Humans
Infant
Learning
Parents
Rett Syndrome* / diagnosis