Abstract
The purpose of this study was to monitor the emergence and changes to the components of the Long Latency Auditory Evoked Potentials (LLAEP) in normal hearing children. This longitudinal study included children of both genders: seven aged between 10 and 35 months, and eight children between 37 and 63 months. The electrophysiological hearing evaluation consisted of analysis of LLAEP obtained in a sound field generated with loudspeakers positioned at an azimuth of 90°, through which the syllable /ba/ was played at an intensity of 70 dB HL. Each child underwent an initial evaluation followed by two re-evaluations three and nine months later. The emergence of LLAEP components across the nine-month follow-up period was observed. P1 and N2 were the most common components in children of this age range. There was no statistically significant difference regarding the occurrence of P1, N1, P2, and N2 components amongst younger and older children. Regarding latency values, the greatest changes overtime were observed in the P1 component for younger children and in the N2 component for older children. Only the P1 component significantly differed between the groups, with the highest latency values observed in younger children. LLAEP maturation occurs gradually and the emergence of complex components appears to be related more to the maturation of the central auditory nervous system than to chronological age.
Highlights
Hearing is a sense existent in the human being from the fifth month of intrauterine life
Long Latency Auditory Evoked Potentials (LLAEP), traces generated by bioelectric activities from central auditory pathways after acoustic stimulation, have shown themselves to be a resource capable of measuring the neurophysiological modifications resultant from the maturation process[3,4]
It is important to highlight that such findings can be derived by the different collection procedures utilized to record LLAEP values, considering that the components P1, N1, P2 and N2 are exogenous potentials and can suffer modifications according to the characteristics of the stimulus
Summary
Hearing is a sense existent in the human being from the fifth month of intrauterine life. The experiences lived by the individual allow the Central Auditory Nervous System (CANS) to go through neurophysiological changes, through neuronal plasticity, allowing auditory learning This phenomenon of auditory maturation allows the development of auditory abilities, in other words, allows the individual to be capable of hearing, and for sound stimuli heard to be detected, discriminated, recognized and understood[1,2]. For its being an exogenous potential, in other words, not dependent on the behavioral response of the individual, they can be a useful tool to evaluate, amongst other things, small children who have still not developed auditory and/or cognitive abilities to respond to other evaluations[5,6] For this reason, studies have utilized this procedure to monitor, objectively, cortical maturation after speech-therapy interventions in children with language alterations[7], after training of central auditory processing[8], as well as measuring the benefits provided by the use of electronic devices, such as Personal Sound Amplifiers and Cochlear Implants[9]
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