Sininger Y S, Doyle K J, Moore J K
Children's Auditory Research and Evaluation Center, University of California Davis Medical Center, USA.
Pediatr Clin North Am. 1999 Feb;46(1):1-14. doi: 10.1016/s0031-3955(05)70077-8.
Human infants spend the first year of life learning about their environment through experience. Although it is not visible to observers, infants with hearing are learning to process speech and understand language and are quite linguistically sophisticated by 1 year of age. At this same time, the neurons in the auditory brain stem are maturing, and billions of major neural connections are being formed. During this time, the auditory brain stem and thalamus are just beginning to connect to the auditory cortex. When sensory input to the auditory nervous system is interrupted, especially during early development, the morphology and functional properties of neurons in the central auditory system can break down. In some instances, these deleterious effects of lack of sound input can be ameliorated by reintroduction of stimulation, but critical periods may exist for intervention. Hearing loss in newborn infants can go undetected until as late as 2 years of age without specialized testing. When hearing loss is detected in the newborn period, infants can benefit from amplification (hearing aids) and intervention to facilitate speech and language development. All evidence regarding neural development supports such early intervention for maximum development of communication ability and hearing in infants.
人类婴儿在生命的第一年通过体验来了解他们的环境。虽然观察者看不到，但有听力的婴儿正在学习处理语音和理解语言，并且在1岁时语言能力已经相当成熟。与此同时，听觉脑干中的神经元正在成熟，数十亿个主要神经连接正在形成。在此期间，听觉脑干和丘脑才刚刚开始与听觉皮层相连。当听觉神经系统的感觉输入被中断时，尤其是在早期发育过程中，中枢听觉系统中神经元的形态和功能特性可能会受到破坏。在某些情况下，缺乏声音输入的这些有害影响可以通过重新引入刺激来改善，但可能存在干预的关键期。如果没有专门的测试，新生儿的听力损失可能直到2岁才会被发现。当在新生儿期检测到听力损失时，婴儿可以从放大设备（助听器）和干预中受益，以促进言语和语言发展。所有关于神经发育的证据都支持这种早期干预，以实现婴儿沟通能力和听力的最大程度发展。
