Neural phoneme discrimination in variable speech in newborns – associations with dyslexia risk and later language skills

Abstract

AbstractA crucial skill in infant language acquisition is learning of the native language phonemes. This requires the ability to group complex sounds into distinct auditory categories based on their shared features. Problems in phonetic learning have been suggested to underlie language learning difficulties in dyslexia, a developmental reading-skill deficit. We investigated auditory abilities important for language acquisition in newborns with or without a familial risk for dyslexia with electrophysiological mismatch responses (MMRs). We presented vowel changes in a sequence of acoustically varying vowels, requiring grouping of the stimuli to two phoneme categories. The vowel changes elicited an MMR which was significantly diminished in infants whose parents had the most severe dyslexia in our sample. Phoneme-MMR amplitude and its hemispheric lateralization were associated with language test outcomes assessed at 28 months, an age at which it becomes possible to behaviourally test children and several standardized tests are available. In addition, statistically significant MMRs to violations of a complex sound-order rule were only found in infants without dyslexia risk, but these results are very preliminary due to small sample size. The results demonstrate the relevance of the newborn infants’ readiness for phonetic learning for their emerging language skills. Phoneme extraction difficulties in infants at familial risk may contribute to the phonological deficits observed in dyslexia.Research highlightsWe recorded mismatch responses (MMRs) to vowel changes in a variable speech streamNewborns extracted relevant phonetic information from the stream, evidenced by MMRsHigh dyslexia risk infants had diminished MMRs to vowel changesMMR amplitudes and hemispheric lateralization correlated with later language skillsPoor phoneme extraction may compromise phonological and language development