Fundamental Frequency Variation of Neonatal Spontaneous Crying Predicts Language Acquisition in Preterm and Term Infants.

ABSTRACT: Spontaneous cries of infants exhibit rich melodic features (i.e., time variation of fundamental frequency [F₀ ]) even during the neonatal period, and the development of these characteristics might provide an essential base for later expressive prosody in language. However, little is known about the melodic features of spontaneous cries in preterm infants, who have a higher risk of later language-related problems. Thus, the present study investigated how preterm birth influenced melodic features of spontaneous crying at term-equivalent age as well as how these melodic features related to language outcomes at 18 months of corrected age in preterm and term infants. At term, moderate-to-late preterm (MLP) infants showed spontaneous cries with significantly higher F_0</

SUBMITTER: Shinya Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5744644 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature