Electrophysiological study of auditory development

Cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEP) testing, a non-invasive technique, is widely employed to study auditory brain development. The aim of this study was to investigate the development of the auditory electrophysiological signal without addressing specific abilities such as speech or music discrimination. We were interested in the temporal and spectral domains of conventional auditory evoked potentials. We analyzed cerebral responses to auditory stimulation (broadband noises) in 40 infants and children (1 month to 5 years 6 months) and 10 adults using high-density electrophysiological recording. We hypothesized that the adult auditory response has precursors that can be identified in infant and child responses. Results confirm that complex adult CAEP responses and spectral activity patterns appear after 5 years, showing decreased involvement of lower frequencies and increased involvement of higher frequencies. In addition, time-locked response to stimulus and event-related spectral pertubation across frequencies revealed alpha and beta band contributions to the CAEP of infants and toddlers before mutation to the beta and gamma band activity of the adult response. A detailed analysis of electrophysiological responses to a perceptual stimulation revealed general development patterns and developmental precursors of the adult response.