Early vocalization of preterm infants with extremely low birth weight (ELBW), part I: from birth to expansion stage

Abstract

The vocalization of preterm infants with extremely low birth weight (ELBW) up to the expansion stage was systematically described and compared with those of healthy full-term infants. The sample consisted of 18 preterm ELBW infants and the control group of 11 full-term infants. The follow-up was performed intensively using video-recordings. The vocalization of the preterm and full-term infants was analyzed quantitatively according to the categorical stages created by Oller. A descriptive analysis of all the vocalizations produced by the infants was performed. The preterm infants entered the primitive articulation stage later than the full-term infants and failed to produce more skills during that stage. According to this sample, there was no difference in entering the expansion stage, but the preterm infants failed to produce more skills than the full-term infants. The number of vocalization acts varied differently by age between the groups.

Early vocalization of preterm infants with extremely low birth weight (ELBW), part II: from canonical babbling up to the appearance of the first word

“…In the present study, as well as in our earlier study (Törölä, Lehtihalmes, Heikkinen, et al, 2011), both the preterm and full-term infants failed to produce some skills at each developmental stage. Infants with repeated airway and middle ear infections during the data collection period were those who especially failed to produce syllable types and combinations in both the preterm and full-term groups.…”

“…The number of vocalizations in the preterm infants was smaller and the increase in vocalization was slower than that in the full-term infants throughout the babbling period up to the first word. In our earlier study (Törölä, Lehtihalmes, Heikkinen, et al, 2011), a poorer repertoire of preverbal vocalization was observed in the preterm infants than in the full-term infants. Oller et al (1994) suggested that preterm infants present mature vocal patterns less consistently during the first year than the full-term infants, a tendency which was also observed in the present study.…”

“…In addition, the delay might be a sign of later speech and language problems that are frequently reported in preterm infants, even at preschool and school ages (Foster-Cohen et al, 2007;Fox, Dodd, & Howard, 2002;Yliherva et al, 2000). In our previous study (Törölä, Lehtihalmes, Heikkinen, et al, 2011), we argued that immaturity might explain differences, for example, in the number of early vocalizations of the preterm infants compared with that of the full-term infants. The same factor might explain that the preterm infants babble longer than the full-term infants without producing meaningful words.…”

“…The occurrence of otitis media episodes was similar in both the preterm and full-term groups. The study population is described more elaborately in an earlier study by Törölä, Lehtihalmes, Heikkinen, Olsén, and Yliherva (2011). All the ages of the preterm infants are given as corrected ages.…”

Volubility of the human infant: Effects of parental interaction (or lack of it)

“…Low volubility was indeed observed in infants with autism (Patten et al, 2014). A reduction in volubility also was reported for premature infants at some points in their development (Törölä, Lehtihalmes, Hikkinen, Olsén, and Yliherva, 2012a, 2012b) although other investigations on premature infants have not observed this reduction (Oller et al, 1994). In addition, Berger and Cunningham (1983) showed strong volubility differences between typically developing infants and infants with Down syndrome but not always in the direction of low volubility for infants with Down syndrome.…”