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Related Experiment Video

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Assessment of Cerebral Lateralization in Children using Functional Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound fTCD

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Lateralization of Neural Speech Discrimination at Birth Is a Predictor for Later Language Development.

Lisa Bartha-Doering¹, Vito Giordano¹, Sophie Mandl¹

¹Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Comprehensive Center for Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.

Developmental Science

|January 14, 2025

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Neonates

Keywords:

fNIRS language language development language lateralization preterm birth speech speech discrimination

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Developmental Psychology
Speech-Language Pathology

Background:

Newborns can distinguish speech from non-speech sounds neurally immediately after birth.
The link between early speech discrimination and later language skills remains unclear.
Preterm infants show altered speech processing and are at higher risk for language deficits.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate neural speech discrimination in neonates.
To determine if neonatal speech discrimination predicts later language development.
To examine language outcomes in preterm- versus term-born children.

Main Methods:

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to assess neural speech discrimination in 92 preterm- and term-born neonates.
Language development was assessed in 45 of these children 3-5 years later.
Speech discrimination's predictive value for language outcomes was analyzed.

Main Results:

No significant differences in language development were found between preterm and term-born children at 3-5 years old.
Gestational age at birth did not predict later language development.
Neonatal neural speech discrimination strongly correlated with later phonological short-term memory.
Left-lateralized speech discrimination at birth predicted better phonological short-term memory development.

Conclusions:

Neonatal neural speech discrimination, particularly its lateralization, predicts later phonological short-term memory.
Early speech discrimination abilities may reflect fetal memory formation.
Left-hemisphere dominance in neonatal speech processing is associated with enhanced phonological memory development.