Cortical Responses to Mother's Voice in Comparison with Unfamiliar Voice in the First Trimester of Life: A fNIRS Study

Abstract

Introduction The use of functional near-infrared light spectroscopy (fNIRS) may be applied to study cortical responses in children and could offer insight into auditory and speech perception during the early stages of life. Some literature suggests that babies are already able to identify familiar voices at birth, and fNIRS is a non-invasive technique that can be used to study this population.

Keywords

• spectroscopy
• near-infrared
• child development
• hearing
• auditory cortex