Cortical Responses to Mother's Voice in Comparison with Unfamiliar Voice in the First Trimester of Life: A fNIRS Study

Lurdiana Guimarães Dias; Débora Marques de Miranda; Ana Lívia Libardi Bertachini; Gabriela Cintra Januário; Rebecca Chrispim Silva; Luciana Macedo de Resende

doi:10.1055/s-0044-1788003

International Archives of Otorhinolaryngology, Table of Contents

CC BY 4.0 · Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2024; 28(04): e579-e586
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1788003

Original Research

Cortical Responses to Mother's Voice in Comparison with Unfamiliar Voice in the First Trimester of Life: A fNIRS Study

Lurdiana Guimarães Dias

¹Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Postgraduate Program in Speech-Language and Hearing Sciences, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

,

Débora Marques de Miranda

²Department of Pediatrics, Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences of the Child and Adolescent, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

,

Ana Lívia Libardi Bertachini

²Department of Pediatrics, Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences of the Child and Adolescent, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

,

Gabriela Cintra Januário

²Department of Pediatrics, Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences of the Child and Adolescent, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

,

Rebecca Chrispim Silva

¹Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Postgraduate Program in Speech-Language and Hearing Sciences, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

,

Luciana Macedo de Resende

¹Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Postgraduate Program in Speech-Language and Hearing Sciences, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

› Author Affiliations

Abstract

Introduction The use of functional near-infrared light spectroscopy (fNIRS) may be applied to study cortical responses in children and could offer insight into auditory and speech perception during the early stages of life. Some literature suggests that babies are already able to identify familiar voices at birth, and fNIRS is a non-invasive technique that can be used to study this population.

Objective To characterize the cortical responses of infants during their first trimester of life to infant-directed speech using near-infrared light spectroscopy and to verify whether there is a difference in responses when infant-directed speech is performed by their mother compared with an unknown person.

Methods Twenty-three children between 0 and 3 months, healthy, without risk indicators for hearing loss, and with results considered normal in the audiological evaluation were tested with near-infrared spectroscopy using infant-directed speech as an auditory stimulus produced by their own mother and by an unknown source.

Results Bilateral cortical activation was observed. The responses were present in the temporal, frontal, and parietal regions. Regarding the familiarity aspect, no significant difference was observed for the mother's voice compared with an unknown voice.

Conclusion Infant-directed speech has prosodic characteristics capable of activating several cortical regions in the infant's first trimester of life, especially the temporal region. The familiarity effect needs to be better defined for this type of stimulus during this period.

Keywords

spectroscopy - near-infrared - child development - hearing - auditory cortex

Full Text

References

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