The development of auditory behavior (or what the anatomists and physiologists have to explain)

• Published in: Ear and hearing Vol. 17; no. 5; p. 438
• Main Author: Werner, L A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.10.1996
• Subjects: Age Factors; Auditory Pathways - physiology; Auditory Perception - physiology; Child, Preschool; Ear, Middle - anatomy & histology; Ear, Middle - physiology; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Time Factors
• ISSN: 0196-0202
• DOI: 10.1097/00003446-199610000-00010

Infants' and children's performance in detecting and discriminating between sounds is often poorer than that of adults. Behavioral immaturity often coexists with mature-looking morphology and physiological responses from the peripheral and brain stem structures that limit performance among adults. One interpretation of this pattern of results is that "hearing" is mature but some unnamed central process is immature. The approach to the problem taken here is to view auditory behavior as the process to be explained and physiological or anatomical measurements as giving us clues about the underlying processes. The development of four aspects of hearing-frequency resolution, detection, temporal resolution, and intensity resolution-is reviewed in this paper, and new data addressing these topics are presented. Frequency resolution, detection, temporal resolution, and intensity resolution all undergo development during infancy and childhood, although the mechanisms underlying development vary across capacity and developmental period. A coherent argument can be made that both primary auditory pathway maturation and maturation of specific central processes are involved in development. Both types of maturation continue into childhood, and both types of maturation can influence hearing directly.