Longitudinal trajectories of the neural encoding mechanisms of speech-sound features during the first year of life.

Infants quickly recognize the sounds of their mother language, perceiving the spectrotemporal acoustic features of speech. However, the underlying neural machinery remains unclear. We used an auditory evoked potential termed frequency-following response (FFR) to unravel the neural encoding maturation for two speech sound characteristics: voice pitch and temporal fine structure.

The frequency-following response in late preterm neonates: a pilot study.

Introduction: Infants born very early preterm are at high risk of language delays. However, less is known about the consequences of late prematurity. Hence, the aim of the present study is to characterize the neural encoding of speech sounds in late preterm neonates in comparison with those born at term.

Developmental Trajectory of the Frequency-Following Response During the First 6 Months of Life.

Purpose: The aim of the present study is to characterize the maturational changes during the first 6 months of life in the neural encoding of two speech sound features relevant for early language acquisition: the stimulus fundamental frequency (), related to stimulus pitch, and the vowel formant composition, particularly F. The frequency-following response (FFR) was used as a snapshot into the neural encoding of these two stimulus attributes.

Method: FFRs to a consonant-vowel stimulus /da/ were retrieved from electroencephalographic recordings in a sample of 80 healthy infants (45 at birth and 35 at the age of 1 month).

Speech-Encoding Deficits in Neonates Born Large-for-Gestational Age as Revealed With the Envelope Frequency-Following Response.

Objectives: The present envelope frequency-following response (FFR ENV ) study aimed at characterizing the neural encoding of the fundamental frequency of speech sounds in neonates born at the higher end of the birth weight continuum (>90th percentile), known as large-for-gestational age (LGA).

Design: Twenty-five LGA newborns were recruited from the maternity unit of Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona Children's Hospital and paired by age and sex with 25 babies born adequate-for-gestational age (AGA), all from healthy mothers and normal pregnancies. FFR ENV s were elicited to the/da/ syllable and recorded while the baby was sleeping in its cradle after a successful universal hearing screening.

Corpus callosum-fastigium and tectal lengths in late-onset small fetuses.

Objective: To investigate measurements on neurosonography of midbrain morphology, including corpus callosum-fastigium length and tectal length, in late-onset small fetuses subclassified as small-for-gestational-age (SGA) or growth-restricted (FGR).

Methods: This was a case-control study of consecutive singleton pregnancies delivered at term at a single center between January 2019 and July 2021, including those with late-onset smallness (estimated fetal weight (EFW) < 10 centile) and appropriate-for-gestational-age controls matched by age at neurosonography. Small fetuses were further subdivided into SGA (EFW between 3 and 9 centile and normal fetoplacental Doppler) and FGR (EFW < 3 centile or EFW < 10 centile with abnormal cerebroplacental ratio and/or uterine artery Doppler).