On neural systems for speech and song in autism

Sir, Lai et al. (2012) explored the preserved musical abilities in those with autism in association with language disabilities. They reported no differences in structural neural pathways between those with and without autism, and that functional systems that process speech and song were more effectively engaged for song than speech in autism.There is one study that could dampen their hopes of finding specific structural differences that could account for preserving musical abilities while hindering speech. Schwartz et al. (2003) showed that the frequency ratios used as the building blocks of music (i.e. the chromatic scale) are embedded into all human languages. Statistical analysis of thousands of snippets of languages from around the world demonstrated a concentration of frequency ratios that are identical to those in the chromatic scale. Subsets of the chromatic scale form the basis for virtually all of human musical scales found across geography and time. Thus, music and speech are intimately …