Altered development of a part of brain region essential to hearing and understanding sound in preterm infants is associated with poorer language skills in early childhood a study has found. The neural machinery that supports hearing is typically functional by 15 weeks before birth making babies sensitive to speech and language while they are still in the womb. However the developmental disturbances to auditory cortex may underlie speech and language impairments at age 2 the researchers from the University of Illinois said. The team focussed on the primary auditory cortex -- which is the first cortical region to receive auditory
