Relationships Between Autistic Trait Dimensions and Speech Understanding, Affective Sound Intolerance, and Self-Reported Hearing Difficulties

Decreased sound tolerance (DST) is a disabling transdiagnostic phenomenon with high clinical relevance in autism. Neurodevelopmental DST is often studied as part of a general multisensory construct that includes both hyper- and hyposensitivity. Therefore, knowledge about the potential relevance of individual differences in the auditory modality is lacking....

Audiologists evaluating adults with autistic traits should consider assessing for sound intolerance (such as misophonia or hyperacusis) and self-reported hearing difficulty separately from standard audiometric thresholds, as different trait dimensions map onto distinct hearing-related challenges.

Understanding how specific autistic trait dimensions relate to different hearing difficulties could improve individualised audiological assessment and rehabilitation planning for autistic adults and those with subclinical autistic traits.

1. 01Different autistic trait dimensions were associated with distinct hearing-related difficulties in adults.
2. 02Affective sound intolerance (emotional distress from sounds) was significantly linked to certain autistic traits.
3. 03Speech understanding difficulties showed a separate pattern of association from sound intolerance.
4. 04Self-reported hearing difficulties did not fully align with objective hearing measures.
5. 05Findings published in Autism in Adulthood, a peer-reviewed journal.

PMID

42369094

DOI

10.1089/aut.2023.0198.

Journal

Autism in Adulthood

Publication type

research_article

Evidence level

2b

Population

Adults with varying levels of autistic traits

Intervention

Assessment of autistic trait dimensions