Auditory experience during the prenatal and perinatal period

仅在美国，每年就有超过50万婴儿早产。而医疗 这些进步极大地提高了生存率，与听觉功能相关的长期发病率也 共同早产儿群体遭受感音神经性听力损失的相对高的患病率， 听神经病/不同步和中枢听觉处理障碍。即使是早产儿， 已经诊断出特定听觉病理表现出与听觉处理相关的认知损伤， 包括听觉注意力缺陷、语言处理缺陷和其他言语/语言交流 赤字尽管有这些事实，但对早产对听力影响的深入了解， 神经发育缺乏。声学环境的可能影响是未知的。长期 本研究的目的是描述早产对听觉神经发育的影响， 沟通行为，以帮助改善最佳医疗实践和治疗干预早产 婴儿。在这项研究中，我们建议测量早产期间听觉输入对早产儿的影响。 神经发育结果。有三个具体目标。在目标1中，我们将招募一组早产儿， 在新生儿重症监护室（NICU）的婴儿，前瞻性地测量他们的听觉输入在医院期间， 留下吧我们将量化新生儿重症监护室中的详细听觉体验，并确定这与子宫内的听觉体验有何不同。 听觉体验在目标2中，我们将确定早产对3个月时听觉功能的影响。 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， 经验和听觉功能的影响。拟议的研究将为纵向研究奠定基础 旨在确定NICU中的听觉体验对长期听觉和语言的影响 发展对于早产和新生儿重症监护室的环境可能会如何影响 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听觉体验，（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.