Background: Absolute pitch is the ability to identify a given note in the absence of a reference note. The prevalence of absolute pitch in autism is between 5% and 11% and autism involves notably enhanced abilities in pitch discrimination.
Objectives: To summarize the evidence about the role and the meaning of these special skills in autism.
Methods: Systematic electronic database searches were conducted using Pubmed, Scopus, Psycinfo, and Web of Science. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRI-SMA) guideline was followed, and, after thorough screening by two independent reviewers, 17 articles remained eligible for inclusion in this study.
Results: We have two different groups of results. Eight case-control studies discuss pitch discrimination and autism. The second group included four case reports about autistic individuals with absolute pitch and five case-control studies. These results strongly suggest that music elicits special attention for children with autism, and taken together, this evidence supports a major frequency of AP in autistic children.
Conclusion: Based on this evidence, future perspectives could include studies aiming to detect absolute pitch at an early age and to use this special skill to stimulate joint attention, as well as socio-communicative skills.
Keywords: absolute pitch; autism; language; music.