Light technology images brains to help diagnose hearing impairments in infants

According to the researchers at Monash University, Australia, prolonged hearing loss can severely affect how the brain’s language areas develop, affecting a child’s ability to develop speech and language. Currently, several diagnostic tests are required to determine the extent of hearing impairment in infants, which can take months and is often stressful for the child and their parents.

PhD student Ishara Paranawithana and his research team used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to non-invasively image the brains of a group of normal hearing infants and measure how language areas of their brains develop and interconnect as they grow older, specifically in the first year of life.

The researchers said the objective measurements of connectivity from normal hearing infants can be used as potential biomarkers to compare against those of infants with hearing impairment, to determine their level of language development.

The results were published in the Journal of Neural Engineering, and can be read here.