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Updated: Jul 20, 2026
Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
Published on: July 1, 2015
Cortical auditory event-related potentials in newborn infants
Vineta Fellman1, Minna Huotilainen
1Department of Pediatrics, Clinical Sciences, Lund University, SE-221 85 Lund, Sweden. vineta.fellman@med.lu.se
Insights
Auditory cortical event-related potentials (AERPs) show promise for early dyslexia screening in infants. However, methodological challenges related to infant maturation must be resolved before widespread clinical use.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Auditory Neuroscience
Background:
- Electroencephalography (EEG) potentials after sound perception have been studied for decades.
- Auditory cortical event-related potentials (AERPs) are increasingly researched for assessing sound discrimination in infants and children.
- Current application in clinical practice faces methodological hurdles, particularly in the neonatal period.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the current state of auditory cortical event-related potentials (AERPs) research.
- To identify methodological challenges in using AERPs for infant auditory assessment.
- To explore the potential of AERPs as an early screening tool for dyslexia and cognitive dysfunction.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on auditory cortical event-related potentials (AERPs) in infants.
- Analysis of factors influencing AERP maturation, including gestational age and infancy.
- Examination of the prevalence of specific AERP components like mismatch negativity in newborns.
Main Results:
- AERP characteristics (latency, polarity, amplitude) mature significantly during infancy.
- Approximately 80% of healthy newborns exhibit mismatch negativity.
- AERPs are not yet clinically applicable in the neonatal period, but show promise for high-risk newborns.
Conclusions:
- Maturation of the infant auditory system necessitates careful consideration in stimulus design and response interpretation for AERPs.
- Further research is required to overcome current limitations and establish AERPs as a reliable early screening method.
- AERPs hold potential for early identification of infants at risk for dyslexia or cognitive dysfunction.
Abstract:
The possibility of recording changes in electroencephalography potentials following perception of sound was reported several decades ago. The recent expanding research on auditory cortical event-related potentials (AERPs) for assessing sound discrimination abilities in children and infants has indicated that several methodological issues need to be addressed before it can be implemented in clinical practice. Latencies, polarities, and amplitudes of the responses change with gestational age and during infancy. Thus, the maturation of the infant must be considered when designing stimulus paradigms and interpreting the responses. Of healthy newborn infants, only about 80% will show mismatch negativity, the automatic change detection of the auditory stimuli. Currently, the AERP method cannot be applied in clinical practice in the neonatal period, although the findings in healthy newborns at risk for dyslexia are promising. Further research will elucidate the possibility of developing AERPs as a possible early screening method during infancy for later dyslexia or cognitive dysfunction.
