Fetal auditory processing: Implications for language development?

Abstract

Fundamental auditory processing abilities such as attention to, discrimination, recognition, and learning of sounds are critical properties of early neurocognitive function, necessary for the acquisition of language, detection of possible opportunity, and identification of impending danger. Over the past 35 years, researchers have characterized auditory processing in human fetuses, occasionally at mid-gestation and reliably from the beginning of the third trimester of pregnancy. Study results demonstrate that fetal gestational age, state of arousal, maternal (e.g., diabetes, hypertension, preeclampsia) and fetal (e.g., growth restriction) high-risk conditions as well as sound frequency, intensity, complexity, and duration influence perception. The finding of differential responding to sounds in fetuses in populations of low-vs. high-risk pregnancies is particularly salient because it has the potential of serving as a marker of neuropathology with one of the most compelling examples the association of atypical response to the mother’s voice in growth restricted fetuses and later expressive language deficits. Future research is essential to a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms responsible for disparities in auditory processing, identifying individual fetuses and newborns at greatest risk for subsequent language deficits, and generating and testing novel prenatal and neonatal interventions to prevent or ameliorate communication impairments.