Early exposure to environmental sounds and the development of cortical auditory evoked potentials of preterm infants during the first three months of life

Abstract

Objective: Preterm infants are exposed earlier than their term counterparts to unattenuated sounds from the external environment during the sensitive period of the organization of the auditory cortical circuitry. In the current study, we investigate the effect of preterm birth on the course of development of auditory cortical areas by evaluating how gestational age (GA) correlates with the latency of the P1 component of the cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEP) of two experimental groups measured at one or three months of age. Results: 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). In the group evaluated at one-month CA, the latency of the component P1 was similar in both terms and infants classified as late-preterm (GA>32 weeks). However, in the group evaluated at three months CA, P1 latency was significantly 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.