Table 1.

Evidence on the effectiveness of sound-based intervention

Forms of sound-based intervention	Effectiveness of sound intervention
	Positive finding	Negative finding
Auditory integration therapy	Improvement on social communication, speech, sensitivity to sounds, and behavioural problems.	No changes in sound sensitivity and behaviour deteriorated.
	Improvement in auditory P300 evoked response potential.	Factors other than auditory integration therapy were responsible for behavioural improvement.
Audio murottal intervention	Increase of a behavioural development, reduce behavioural issues.	No negative findings.
	Improve sleep quality and reduce sleep disruption.
Listening project protocol	Reduced auditory hypersensitivities.	No negative findings.
	Increased spontaneous sharing behaviours.
The listening project	Positive results in the areas of auditory processing.	Did not necessarily improve in all areas, consistent with the complexity of sensory sensitivities exhibited in autism.
	Improvements in areas of sociability.
	More flexible behaviour.
	Improve severity level.
Tomatis	Reduce autistic symptoms.	No significant differences on the language.
	Increase social interaction, communication, and expressive/receptive vocabulary.	The changes did not appear related to the treatment condition.
	Reduce stereotypical movements, hyperactivity, and attention problem.	No known indicators that can predict which subjects would respond well to the treatment.
	Developing verbal skills.
	Improvements in daily living skills and motor skills.
Samonas sound therapy	Positive trend in social orienting towards familiar people to a certain extent and potential to facilitate joint attention behaviours.	Did not improve social orienting.
	Improving reciprocal social interaction skills.	Improvement seen in the context of therapist–child interaction could not generalise into improvement in parent–child joint attention.
	Treatment effect remained constant across the time points.
MIT	Improve comprehending simple auditory commands and receptive language abilities.	No negative findings.
Rhythm therapy	There is an effect on sensory and symptoms.	No effect on motor development.
Asmaul Husna sound healing	No positive findings.	No significant changes on the tantrum.
Therapeutic Listening®	Increases in social communication and life role function.	No negative findings.
	Improved behaviour, sensory tolerance and processing, receptive/expressive listening and language, and motor skills.
	Active participation in singing and movements to song.
ILS	Auditory scores increase after the intervention.	No changes in terms of sensory processing.
Drums-Alive Program	Observe improvement in motor skills, behaviour, and attention.	No negative findings.
Assisted music-based intervention	Educational ability improves.	No difference in music learning ability.
	Improvements in social communication and cognitive skills.
	Stereotyped behaviours decreased.
TLC	Exhibited a trend towards acceptance and perceived beneficial attributes while using TLC.	Feasibility knowledge was gained but not positive or negative results given the small sample size and relatively short study period.
The Holistic Music Educational Approach for Young Children	Increased participation in the musical activities.	No negative findings.
	Improved communication ability.
Improvisational music therapy	Improved social communication and communicative behaviours.	Decreases in social responsiveness after 5 months from baseline.
	The rates of completion of planned measures, blinding, retention, and safety were strong features.	Recruitment rates and high intensity music therapy session attendance rates were low.
Others	Increasing reciprocal social interaction and verbal communication.	Decreases in social responsiveness after 5 months from baseline.
	Decreased behavioural problems.	Recruitment rates and high intensity music therapy session attendance rates were low.
	The severity of autistic symptoms significantly decreased.	Did not increase the occurrence of joint visual attention behaviours.
	Assist and enhance academics, cognitive and language skills.	Did not increased socialisation, musical gestures, and levels of activity.
	Provided a more engaging learning context.	Did not support the presence of musical ability.
	Improve attention and emotion for specific stimulus forms.	Did not provide further empirical support for individuals with autism.
		Need high personalization of the user interface to match the needs of different subject.

MIT, melodic intonation therapy; ILS, integrated listening system; TLC, therapeutic listening communication