Auditory experience during the prenatal and perinatal period

仅在美国，每年就有超过50万婴儿早产。在医疗期间 进步极大地提高了存活率，与听觉功能相关的长期疾病 很普通。早产儿患感音神经性耳聋的患病率相对较高， 听神经病/不同步和中枢听觉处理障碍。即使是早产儿也没有 特定的听觉病理已被诊断出表现出与听觉处理相关的认知障碍， 包括听觉注意力缺陷、语言处理缺陷和其他语音/语言交流 赤字。尽管有这些事实，但对早产对听觉的影响有坚实的理解 缺乏神经发育。声学环境的可能影响尚不清楚。长期的 本研究的目的是表征早产对听神经发育的影响和 沟通行为有助于改善早产的最佳医疗实践和治疗干预 婴儿。在这项研究中，我们建议测量早产儿期间听觉输入对 神经发育结果。有三个具体目标。在目标1中，我们将招募一批早产儿 新生儿重症监护病房(NICU)的婴儿在住院期间前瞻性地测量他们的听觉输入 留下来。我们将量化NICU中详细的听觉体验，并确定这与宫内的不同之处 听觉体验。在目标2中，我们将在3个月时确定早产对听觉功能的影响。 年龄。在目标3中，我们将确定我们测量的围产期听觉参数之间的关系 婴儿期的经验和听觉功能。建议的研究将为纵向研究奠定基础。 目的确定NICU中听觉体验对长期听觉和语言的影响 发展。将获得关于早产和NICU环境可能如何影响的宝贵见解 听觉神经发育。这些研究的结果最终将有助于确定(1)有效的干预措施 优化NICU听力体验和(2)最大限度地为NICU婴儿提供潜在的早期干预治疗 在童年后期有听力和语言缺陷的风险。

Within the United States alone, over a half-million infants are born premature each year. While medical advances have dramatically improved survival rates, long-term morbidities related to auditory function are common. The preterm population suffers from a relatively high prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss, auditory neuropathy/dys-synchrony, and central auditory processing disorder. Even preterm infants in whom no specific auditory pathology has been diagnosed exhibit cognitive impairments related to auditory processing, including auditory attention deficits, language processing deficits, and other speech/language communication deficits. Despite these facts, a solid understanding of the impact of premature birth on auditory neurodevelopment is lacking. Possible effects of the acoustic environment are unknown. The long-term objective of this research is to characterize the effect of premature birth on auditory neurodevelopment and communication behavior to aid in improving best medical practices and therapeutic interventions for preterm infants. In this study, we propose to measure the effects of auditory input during the preterm period on neurodevelopmental outcomes. There are three specific aims. In Aim 1 we will recruit a cohort of preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to prospectively measure their auditory input during hospital stay. We will quantify detailed auditory experience in the NICU and determine how this differs from intrauterine auditory experience. In Aim 2 we will determine the effect of premature birth on auditory function at 3 months of age. In Aim 3 we will determine the relationship between our measured parameters of perinatal auditory experience and auditory function in infancy. The proposed study will lay the foundation for a longitudinal study aimed to determine the effect of auditory experience in the NICU on long-term auditory and language development. Valuable insight will be gained as to how premature birth and NICU environment might affect auditory neurodevelopment. Results of these studies will ultimately aid in identifying (1) effective interventions to optimize NICU auditory experience and (2) potential early-intervention therapies for NICU infants at greatest risk for auditory and language deficits later in childhood.