Auditory Integration Training: A Double-Blind Study of Behavioral and Electrophysiological Effects in People with Autism

Auditory problems are common in individuals with autism. Several previous studies have indicated that Auditory Integration Training (AIT), a sound-based intervention, may bring about significant improvement in autism. AIT entails listening to specially processed music for a total of 10 hours over a 10- to 20-day period. In the present study, 19 individuals with autism were assigned at random to either an experimental group (n = 9), who listened to AIT-processed music, or a placebo group (n = 10), who listened to the same but unprocessed music. All evaluators were blind to group assignment. Behavioral, electrophysiological (ERP), and audiometric measures were assessed prior to and following AIT. A significant decrease in Aberrant Behavior Checklist scores was observed in the experimental group at the 3-month follow-up assessment. Of the 19 participants, only three experimental group members and two placebo group members were able to perform the auditory P300 ERP task. All five participants showed abnormal P300 ERPs prior to the AIT listening sessions. Three months following AIT, all three treated participants showed a dramatic improvement in their auditory P300 ERP, whereas none of the participants in the placebo group showed change. The participants' poor language and attention skills precluded collecting sufficient data for formal statistical evaluation of the results from the battery of audiometric tests.