Analysis of newborn hearing can forecast 12-month neurophysiological development

The examination of hearing in young newborns can aid in milestone prediction and early recognition of neurodevelopmental problem signs, according to Portuguese experts.

According to a number of studies, the brain's reaction to various auditory stimulus intensities in newborn babies can reveal crucial details about their basic auditory sensory processing abilities, with implications for things like behavioral organization, social engagement, and ultimately language skills.

The study that resulted in the article "Cortical auditory evoked potentials in 1-month-old infants predict language outcomes at 12 months" was conducted by the researchers Sara Cruz, Alberto Crego, Carla Moreira, Eugenia Ribeiro, scar Goncalves, Rita Ramos, and Adriana Sampaio based on this state-of-the-art. 18 mother-infant pairs who were recruited at birth and whose infants all met the study's eligibility requirements--full-term birth, weight lesser than 2,500 g, Apgar score of 9 out of 10 in the 10th minute, and passing the medical hearing test--took part. Infants were evaluated once, at one month, and again at twelve months.

The authors of the study describe how they used electrodes to record the CAEP, or cortical auditory evoked potentials, which are waves produced in the auditory cortex in response to sound, in order to analyze the P2 and N2 components for two auditory stimulus intensities in one-month-old infants. Then, as babies' sensitivity to external (social interaction traits) and internal (self-regulatory abilities) stimuli has been linked to social-type behavior, they aimed to correlate the CAEP response to both auditory stimuli with neurobehavioral competencies.

"In this study, we proved that CAEP in one-month-old infants are related to interactive behavior and self-regulatory abilities and, in 12-month-old infants, with language competencies", reveals the researcher from the School of Psychology at the University of Minho.

The findings were in line with other research showing a connection between newborn development outcomes and auditory processing, which may be important for the early identification of neurodevelopmental abnormalities in kids.

( With inputs from ANI )