Frequency-following response in infants with congenital syphilis
Publication date
2025-11-26
Document type
Research article
Author
Balen, Sheila Andreoli
de Souza Evangelista, Carolina Karla
Ribas-Prats, Teresa
Santos, Ana Beatriz
Escera, Carles
Organisational unit
Undergraduate Program in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil
Laboratory of Technological Innovation in Health (LAIS), Onofre Lopes University Hospital, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil
Graduate Associate Program in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil
Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany
BrainLab–Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Spain
Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Spain
Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu (IRSJD), Barcelona, Spain
Publisher
American Speech Language Hearing Association
Series or journal
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
Periodical volume
69
Periodical issue
1
First page
320
Last page
332
Peer-reviewed
✅
Part of the university bibliography
Nein
Language
English
Abstract
Purpose: This work aimed to study the frequency-following response (FFR) of infants with congenital syphilis under treatment.
Method: A cross-sectional study with 112 infants recruited at public maternities was conducted. A total of 90 infants were included in the sample and divided into two groups: 53 infants whose mothers and infants received perinatal syphilis treat-ment and 37 infants whose mothers and infants were free of syphilis (control group). Infant age ranged from 15 to 90 days (M = 39.9 ± 17.2 days). FFRs were recorded to a 170-ms consonant–vowel /da/ stimulus, presented at 80 dB nHL to the right ear. Data were analyzed in the time and frequency domains. The Shapiro–Wilk and Mann–Whitney U tests were applied with a significance level of p ≤ .05.
Results: No significant between-groups differences were observed in FFR spectral amplitude at the stimulus fundamental frequency or its harmonics, whether com-puted in the transient or steady portions of the stimulus. No significant differences were observed in prestimulus root-mean-square, neural lag, and the signal-to-noise ratio of the spectral amplitude.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that infants with congenital syphilis, when appropriately treated at birth, demonstrate preserved auditory pathway function and sound processing, including temporal and spectral characteristics that are relevant for language acquisition.
Method: A cross-sectional study with 112 infants recruited at public maternities was conducted. A total of 90 infants were included in the sample and divided into two groups: 53 infants whose mothers and infants received perinatal syphilis treat-ment and 37 infants whose mothers and infants were free of syphilis (control group). Infant age ranged from 15 to 90 days (M = 39.9 ± 17.2 days). FFRs were recorded to a 170-ms consonant–vowel /da/ stimulus, presented at 80 dB nHL to the right ear. Data were analyzed in the time and frequency domains. The Shapiro–Wilk and Mann–Whitney U tests were applied with a significance level of p ≤ .05.
Results: No significant between-groups differences were observed in FFR spectral amplitude at the stimulus fundamental frequency or its harmonics, whether com-puted in the transient or steady portions of the stimulus. No significant differences were observed in prestimulus root-mean-square, neural lag, and the signal-to-noise ratio of the spectral amplitude.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that infants with congenital syphilis, when appropriately treated at birth, demonstrate preserved auditory pathway function and sound processing, including temporal and spectral characteristics that are relevant for language acquisition.
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Published version
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