Early Exposure to Environment Sounds and the Development of Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials of Preterm Infants During the First Three Months of Life

Abstract

ObjectivePrenatal experience influences the course of development of sensory pathways. Preterm infants are exposed earlier than their term counterparts to unattenuated sounds from the external environment during the sensitive period of organization of auditory cortical circuitry. In the current study, we evaluated how gestational age (GA) correlates with the latency of the P1 component of the cortical auditory evoked potential of two experimental groups measured at one or three months of age. Our sample consisted of 23 infants delivered at GA ranging from 31.28-41.42 weeks and separated into two groups evaluated transversally at one or three months of corrected age (CA).ResultsIn the group evaluated at one-month CA, the latency of the component P1 was similar in both term and late-preterm infants (GA>32 weeks). However, in the group evaluated at three months CA, P1 latency was significant smaller in preterms. These preliminary results suggest an acceleration of the development of auditory cortical pathways in preterms, probably due to their early exposure to socially relevant auditory stimuli from the external environment.Keywords: preterm, newborn, brain development, auditory, cortex