Calderon, M. , Ricardo-Garcell, J. , Avecilla, G. & Harmony, T.
Instituto de Neurobiologia UNAM
Periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) is a frequent pathology in premature newborns that has been associated with cognitive disorders. We assessed phonetic and acoustic discrimination using auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) in 17 premature infants with periventricular leukomalacia, 10 healthy premature infants and 14 healthy at term infants (46 weeks PCA) during sleep, listening phonetic and acoustic changes. For the phonetic change, we introduced a phonetic deviant (a change in the place of articulation in the consonant) within a stream of CV syllabes. For the acoustic change, we introduced an acoustic deviant (frequency change) in a stream of harmonic tones. The obligatory components for the standard stimulus in both conditions (phonetic and acoustic) were smaller in amplitude in the PVL group than in the term and premature groups. In response to the deviant syllable, the PVL group and premature group didn´t show that response in the ERP´s whereas the term infants did. These results may suggest an abnormal cortical auditory processing of speech and acoustic stimulus in the PVL group.