Recurrent Ear Infection Can Affect the Brain Activity of Small Children
07.01.2014
A new research reveals that recurrent inflammation of the middle ear during early childhood can cause changes on the cerebral cortex that processes speech. The research was carried out by the University of Turku and Oulu University Hospital.
20 2-year-old children who live in the Oulu area and had tympanostomy tubes inserted because of recurrent ear infections took part in the research. The control group included 19 children who had had a maximum two ear infections. The children’s brain activity was recorded when they heard Finnish syllables.
– We found out that children who have had recurrent ear infections were particularly sensitive to changes in the inflection and volume of speech, whereas the discrimination of small speech sounds, such as consonants, can be more immaturely developed, says Speech Therapist Sini Haapala, who is doing a doctoral dissertation at the University of Turku.
Improving the Understanding of Language Development
The sound discrimination on the cerebral cortex of the children who have had recurrent ear infections had not been studied earlier. The research results are significant for understanding the factors that affect children’s language development as well as for the prevention of language impairment.
– Earlier studies show that children develop memory traces of the sounds of their first language as early as on the first twelve months of life. The level of auditory processing during early childhood also predicts the child’s language development, says Professor Eira Jansson-Verkasalo of the Logopedics Unit at the University of Turku.
The research was carried out by the Logopedics Unit at the University of Turku and the Neurocognitive Unit and the Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic of the Oulu University Hospital in collaboration with the Logopedics Unit at the University of Oulu and the Cognitive Brain Research Unit at the University of Helsinki.
The research was published in the esteemed international Ear and Hearing journal:
Haapala, S., Niemitalo-Haapola, E., Raappana, A., Kujala, T., Suominen, K., Kujala, T., & Jansson-Verkasalo, E. (2013). Effects of recurrent acute otitis media on cortical speech-sound processing in 2-year old children. Ear and Hearing. doi: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000000002
Text: Erja Hyytiäinen
Translation: Mari Ratia