Absence of neural speech discrimination in preterm infants at term-equivalent age

Bartha‐Doering, Lisa; Alexopoulos, Johanna; Giordano, Vito; Stelzer, Lisa; Kainz, Theresa; Benavides-Varela, Silvia; Wartenburger, Isabell; Klebermass-Schrehof, Katrin; Olischar, Monika; Seidl, Rainer; Berger, Angelika

doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100679

Cited by 23 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…Recent research from our group has shown that preterm infants exhibit significant deficits in auditory speech discrimination at term-equivalent age compared to full term neonates (Bartha-Doering et al, 2019). We hypothesized that differences in the early auditory experience of preterm vs full term infants caused these discrimination deficits.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

The “Sound of Silence” in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit—Listening to Speech and Music Inside an Incubator

et al. 2020

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Background: The intrauterine hearing experience differs from the extrauterine hearing exposure within a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) setting. Also, the listening experience of a neonate drastically differs from that of an adult. Several studies have documented that the sound level within a NICU exceeds the recommended threshold by far, possibly related to hearing loss thereafter. The aim of this study was, first, to precisely define the dynamics of sounds within an incubator and, second, to give clinicians and caregivers an idea about what can be heard "inside the box." Methods: Audio recordings within an incubator were conducted at the Pediatric Simulation Center of the Medical University Vienna. They contained recorded music, speech, and synthesized sounds. To understand the dynamics of sounds around and within the incubator, the following stimuli were used: broadband noise with decreasing sound level in 10 steps of 6 dB, sine waves (62.5,

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

The “Sound of Silence” in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit—Listening to Speech and Music Inside an Incubator

et al. 2020

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“…However, we cannot exclude that motherese quality could be poorer and less able to prepare language acquisition. As suggested in a recent study (Bartha-Doering et al, 2019), neural discrimination of speech could begin in utero. So we could expect that depression during the end of pregnancy may have repercussions on the first steps of language acquisition.…”

Section: Does Maternal Anxiety Depression Status Influence the Qualitmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…The in utero period has been less explored. A recent study (Bartha-Doering et al, 2019 ) suggested that neural discrimination of speech begins in utero . Some reports also show that future mothers speak to their fetus (DeCasper et al, 1994 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Motherese” Prosody in Fetal-Directed Speech: An Exploratory Study Using Automatic Social Signal Processing

et al. 2021

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Introduction: Motherese, or emotional infant directed speech (IDS), is the specific form of speech used by parents to address their infants. The prosody of IDS has affective properties, expresses caregiver involvement, is a marker of caregiver-infant interaction quality. IDS prosodic characteristics can be detected with automatic analysis. We aimed to explore whether pregnant women “speak” to their unborn baby, whether they use motherese while speaking and whether anxio-depressive or obstetrical status impacts speaking to the fetus.Participants and Methods: We conducted an observational study of pregnant women with gestational ages from 26 to 38 weeks. Women were recruited in a university hospital department of obstetrics. Thirty-five women agreed to participate in the study, and 26 audio records were exploitable. We collected obstetrical and sociodemographic data, pregnancy outcomes, anxiety and depressive status using the Covy and Raskin Scales, and life events using the Sensations During Pregnancy and Life Event Questionnaire. Each participant was left alone with an audio recorder with a recommendation to feel free to speak to her fetus as she would have done at home. The recording was stopped after 3 min. Audio recordings were analyzed by two methods: psycholinguist experts' annotation and computational objective automatic analyses.Results: Most mothers (89%) reported speaking to their fetuses. We found a correlation between maternal first perceptions of fetal movements and the start of mother's speaking to fetus. Motherese prosody was detected with both annotation and automatic analysis with a significant correlation between the two methods. In this exploratory study, motherese use was not associated with maternal anxiodepressive or obstetrical status. However, the more future mothers were depressed, the less they spoke with their fetuses during the recording.Conclusion: Fetal directed speech (FDS) can be detected during pregnancy, and it contains a period of prosody that shares the same characteristics of motherese that can be described as prenatal motherese or emotional fetal-directed speech (e-FDS). This means that pregnant women start using motherese much earlier than expected. FDS seems to be correlated with maternal first perceptions of fetal movements and depression scores. However, more research is needed to confirm these exploratory results.

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“…Preterm infants at term-equivalent age treat voices atypically [ 30 ]. However, this discussion and interpretation are still debated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, this discussion and interpretation are still debated. Bartha-Doering and colleagues [ 30 ] reported that full-term newborns demonstrate a significantly greater hemodynamic response to forward speech compared with backward speech within the left hemisphere, which is typically involved in language treatment. This suggests an altered development of the functional network underlying language acquisition in preterm infants, which is what further delays preterm infants from developing voice sensitivities in language areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Early Vocal Contact in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Study Protocol for a Multi-Centre, Randomised Clinical Trial

Filippa

Casa

D’Amico

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Preterm infants are at risk for developing altered trajectories of cognitive, social, and linguistic competences compared to a term population. This is mainly due to medical and environmental factors, as they are exposed to an atypical auditory environment and simultaneously, long periods of early separation from their parents. The short-term effects of early vocal contact (EVC) on an infant’s early stability have been investigated. However, there is limited evidence of its impact on the infant’s autonomic nervous system maturation, as indexed by heart rate variability, and its long-term impact on infant neurodevelopment. Our multi-centric study aims to investigate the effects of EVC on a preterm infant’s physiology, neurobehaviour, and development. Eighty stable preterm infants, born at 25–32 weeks and 6 days gestational age, without specific abnormalities, will be enrolled and randomised to either an intervention or control group. The intervention group will receive EVC, where mothers will talk and sing to their infants for 10 min three times per week for 2 weeks. Mothers in the control group will be encouraged to spend the same amount of time next to the incubator and observe the infant’s behaviour through a standard cluster of indicators. Infants will be assessed at baseline; the end of the intervention; term equivalent age; and 3, 6, 12, and 24 months corrected age, with a battery of physiological, neurobehavioral, and developmental measures. Early interventions in the neonatal intensive care unit have demonstrated effects on the neurodevelopment of preterm infants, thereby lowering the negative long-term effects of an atypical auditory and interactional environment. Our proposed study will provide new insight into mother–infant early contact as a protective intervention against the sequelae of prematurity during this sensitive period of development. Early intervention, such as EVC, is intuitive and easy to implement in the daily care of preterm infants. However, its long-term effects on infant neurodevelopment and maternal sensitivity and stress are still unclear. Trial Registration: NCT04759573, retrospectively registered, 02/17/2021.

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Absence of neural speech discrimination in preterm infants at term-equivalent age

Cited by 23 publications

References 78 publications

The “Sound of Silence” in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit—Listening to Speech and Music Inside an Incubator

The “Sound of Silence” in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit—Listening to Speech and Music Inside an Incubator

“Motherese” Prosody in Fetal-Directed Speech: An Exploratory Study Using Automatic Social Signal Processing

Effects of Early Vocal Contact in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Study Protocol for a Multi-Centre, Randomised Clinical Trial

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