[Concepts in Sensorimotor Research]
The ventriloquism effect can also occur in other situations where there is a mismatch between the visual and auditory information, such as when watching a movie with dubbed audio, or when hearing a person speak on a phone or speaker. The brain uses contextual cues to determine the location of the sound source and can be influenced by visual information, leading to the perception of the sound coming from a different location.
There is some evidence to suggest that autistics may process sensory information differently than neurotypicals, including the processing of auditory information and less fooled by the ventriloquism effect which may suggest that autistics have difficulty integrating information form different senses (which has implication in terms of social interactions).
Other studies have suggested that individuals with autism may have heightened sensitivity to certain auditory stimuli and may experience difficulty in filtering out irrelevant sounds. This hypersensitivity to sound could potentially interfere with the integration of visual and auditory information, leading to a weaker ventriloquism effect.
However the caveat is that research on the relationship between autism & ventriloquism effect is ongoing and not fully understood. So nothing is set in stone.
