Nursery World - Vocal clues can indicate infant autism

Autism can be detected by the unique noises babies make, a new study has found.

Researchers from the University of Memphis in Tennessee found that pre-verbal sounds made by young children with autism are distinctly different to typically developing children. They also found a difference in the sounds made by a child with language delay.

Steven Warren, professor of applied behavioural science and vice-researcher at the University of Kansas, said, 'A small number of studies previously suggested that children with autism have a markedly different vocal signature, but until now, we have been held back from using this knowledge in clinical applications by the lack of measurement technology.'

The team of researchers used automated vocal analysis technology to differentiate the sound patterns taken from recordings of 232 children aged one to four, made by parents at home.

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