ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Auditory integration training and other sound therapies for autism spectrum disorders: a systematic review

Y Sinha¹, N Silove¹, D Wheeler², K Williams³

¹ Child Development Unit, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia
² Cochrane Child Health Field, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead
³ Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Department of General Paediatrics, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead

Correspondence to:
Y Sinha
Centre for Kidney Research, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Locked Bag 4001, Westmead 2145, New South Wales, Australia;yashwans{at}chw.edu.au

Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of auditory integration training (AIT) or other methods of sound therapy in people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Study design: A systematic review was carried out of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of adults or children with ASD. Meta-analysis was attempted.

Results: Six RCTs of AIT, including one crossover trial, were identified, with a total of 171 participants aged 3–39 years. 17 different outcome measures were used, with only two outcome measures used by three or more studies. Meta-analysis was not possible owing to very high heterogeneity or presentation of data in unusable forms. Three studies did not show any benefit of AIT over control conditions. Three studies reported improvements at 3 months in the AIT group for total mean scores of the Aberrant Behaviour Checklist (ABC), which is of questionable validity. Of these, one study also reported improvements at 3 months in the AIT group for ABC subgroup scores. No significant adverse effects of AIT were reported.

Conclusion: At present there is not sufficient evidence to support its use.

Abbreviations: ABC, Aberrant Behaviour Checklist; AIT, auditory integration training; ASD, autism spectrum disorders; RCT, randomised controlled trial

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