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Updated: Jul 20, 2025

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
Published on: July 1, 2015
[Impact of electronic devices used at an early age on language]
María Yvette Contreras-Silva1, Neri Alejandro Álvarez Villalobos2,3, Humberto de León-Gutiérrez4
1Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Unidad de Medicina Familiar No. 64, Servicio de Medicina Familiar. Santa Catarina, Nuevo León, México.
Background:
The acquisition of language in infants is largely the result of the process of brain maturation, as well as environmental stimulation. Currently, society is in an era of technology and use of electronic devices from an early age.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to demonstrate if the amount of time of use of electronic devices in children under 5 years of age affects language development.
Methods:
An observational, comparative, survey-type study was carried out in 269 infants of both sexes, with an age range of 6 to <60 months. The language development section of the Child Development Scale (EDI) was used. A logistic regression was performed to determine the strength of association between the factors to be studied.
Results:
269 participants were included, of which 224 (83.2%) presented their level of neurological maturation, 44 infants (16.4%) presented laged development and one (0.4%) was classified as having developmental delay. It was found that the number of daily hours that an electronic device is used behaved as a risk factor by increasing the risk of delayed language development by 1.37 times for each hour of exposure (OR: 1.37, CI95%: 1.15-1.62).
Conclusions:
It was shown that a greater number of hours of use of electronic devices is a risk factor for delayed language development in children under 5 years of age. Therefore, it is vital to limit its use in this population.
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