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Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Smoking during pregnancy affects speech-processing ability in newborn infants
Alexandra P F Key1, Melissa Ferguson, Dennis L Molfese
1Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development and Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, 21st Avenue South & Edgehill Avenue, Nashville, TN 37203, USA. sasha.key@vanderbilt.edu
Environmental Health Perspectives
|April 24, 2007
Summary
Maternal smoking during pregnancy impacts infant brain development, affecting speech processing abilities. Newborns exposed to tobacco smoke show delayed auditory discrimination and altered brainwave patterns.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Maternal smoking during pregnancy negatively impacts fetal central nervous system development.
- Prenatal tobacco exposure is linked to developmental issues, including lower verbal scores and impaired auditory processing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy on newborns' speech processing ability.
- To measure these effects using event-related potentials (ERPs).
Main Methods:
- Recorded high-density ERPs in healthy infants within 48 hours of birth.
- Matched infants based on key demographic and health factors (sex, gestational age, birth weight, etc.).
- Presented consonant-vowel syllables to assess auditory discrimination.
Main Results:
- Infants of nonsmokers exhibited typical left-hemisphere asymmetries in brainwave amplitudes.
- Newborns of smokers showed delayed speech sound discrimination (starting at 150 msec later).
- Infants exposed to smoke differentiated fewer speech syllables compared to controls.
Conclusions:
- Prenatal tobacco smoke exposure alters brain physiology related to basic perceptual skills in healthy infants.
- These alterations may increase the risk of later developmental problems.
- Findings highlight the neurodevelopmental risks associated with maternal smoking.
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