Auditory speech discrimination is essential for normal language development. Children born preterm are at greater risk of language developmental delays. Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy at term-equivalent age, the present study investigated early discrimination of speech prosody in 62 neonates born between week 23 and 41 of gestational age (GA). We found a significant positive correlation between GA at birth and neural discrimination of forward versus backward speech at term-equivalent age. Cluster analysis identified a critical threshold at around week 32 of GA, pointing out the existence of subgroups. Infants born before week 32 of GA exhibited a significantly different pattern of hemodynamic response to speech stimuli compared to infants born at or after week 32 of GA. Thus, children born before the GA of 32 weeks are especially vulnerable to early speech discrimination deficits. To support their early language development, we therefore suggest a close follow-up and additional speech and language therapy especially in the group of children born before week 32 of GA.

中文翻译：

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宫内发育时间长短影响婴儿言语韵律辨别能力

听觉言语辨别对于正常的语言发展至关重要。早产儿语言发育迟缓的风险更大。本研究在足月等效年龄使用功能性近红外光谱，调查了 62 名出生于孕龄 (GA) 23 周至 41 周之间的新生儿的语音韵律的早期辨别。我们发现出生时的 GA 与同等年龄时前向与后向语音的神经辨别力之间存在显着的正相关。聚类分析在 GA 的第 32 周左右确定了一个临界阈值，指出亚组的存在。与 GA 32 周或之后出生的婴儿相比，GA 32 周之前出生的婴儿对言语刺激的血流动力学反应模式明显不同。因此，在 32 周 GA 之前出生的儿童特别容易受到早期言语歧视的影响。因此，为了支持他们的早期语言发展，我们建议密切随访并进行额外的言语和语言治疗，尤其是在 GA 32 周之前出生的儿童组。