Banca de DEFESA: LARA LOUISE PINTO CAMARA

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : LARA LOUISE PINTO CAMARA
DATE: 23/09/2025
TIME: 14:00
LOCAL: Plataforma Google Meet
TITLE:

Neural coding of speech sounds in infants with congenital cytomegalovirus and normal-hearing adults

 

KEY WORDS:

hearing; electrophysiology; infant; cytomegalovirus; adult; speech perception.

PAGES: 132
BIG AREA: Ciências da Saúde
AREA: Fonoaudiologia
SUMMARY:

This dissertation aimed to compare the neural pattern of speech decoding in normal-hearing adults under different acoustic stimulus presentation conditions and to investigate the influence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) on the neural response to speech stimuli in infants. Two cross-sectional, prospective, observational studies were conducted. In Study 1, approved under No. 5,685,328, 28 normal-hearing adults (19 women) participated, all with Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions present, and received the stimuli /da/ (170 ms, right ear) and /dao/ (binaural and monaural presentation in RE and LE). In Study 2, approved under No. 7,190,153, 256 infants were recruited, of whom 142 underwent urine collection for CMV PCR; 23 tested positive, and the final sample included four infants with cCMV, four with perinatal CMV, and four controls. Audiological evaluation included click, frequency-specific, and TEOAE Auditory Brainstem Responses. FFR data were analyzed in the time and frequency domains using the Kruskal-Wallis test with a 5% significance level. In Study 1, the /da/ stimulus showed a mean neural delay of 9.34 ms (±2.67), low cross-correlation (0.124 ±0.0291), high pitch strength (0.843 ±0.133), and a pitch error of 2.99 Hz (±1.20), with the spectral amplitude of F0 (0.085 ±0.0780) similar to mid harmonics (0.099 ±0.0710), both higher than high harmonics (0.028 ±0.0212). In the comparison of /dao/ presentation conditions, F0 was higher in the binaural condition in specific segments, but overall differences were not significant; SNR and neural lag did not vary, cross-correlation was greater in the LE than in the binaural condition, and pitch encoding was weaker in the RE. Comparing stimuli, /dao/ elicited faster responses (neural lag = 8.38 ms) and more robust mid- and high-harmonic amplitudes than /da/. In Study 2, no differences were observed between control, CMVc, and perinatal CMV groups in pre-stimulus RMS, neural lag, cross-correlation, SNR, pitch, or F0 amplitudes, although the /d/ segment showed higher high-harmonic amplitude in the perinatal CMV group, without robust significance in multiple comparisons. Overall, in normal-hearing adults, FFR demonstrated robust coding of F0 and mid harmonics, lower stability for high harmonics, and subtle effects of stimulus type and presentation, with faster and more spectrally robust responses to /dao/, whereas in infants, congenital CMV did not affect global FFR measures in early life but perinatal CMV showed indications of differential modulation in high-harmonic encoding, highlighting FFR’s potential as a clinical research tool and the need for larger, longitudinal studies to clarify CMV’s impact on auditory neurodevelopment.

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Interna - ***.447.484-** - ALINE TENORIO LINS CARNAUBA - UNCISAL
Externa à Instituição - MILAINE DOMINICI SANFINS - UNIFESP
Presidente - 1804274 - SHEILA ANDREOLI BALEN