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Predicting the Auditory Language Ability of Young Children With Hearing Loss Using Their Mothers' Brain Activity.

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Title: Predicting the Auditory Language Ability of Young Children With Hearing Loss Using Their Mothers' Brain Activity.
Authors: Zhai, Yu1, Xing, Yajing2, Zhao, Jianlong1, He, XiangYu1, Jiang, Kexin1, Zhang, Tengfei1, Lu, Chunming1
Source: Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research. Oct2025, Vol. 68 Issue 10, p4996-5020. 25p.
Subject Terms: *Communicative competence, *Down syndrome, *Brain, *Mothers, *Intelligibility of speech, *Parenting, *Mother-child relationship, *Language acquisition, *Children, Hearing disorder diagnosis, Research funding, Maternal age, Near infrared spectroscopy, Age distribution, Genetic disorders, Conceptual structures, Analysis of variance, Biomarkers
Abstract: Purpose: Children with congenital hearing loss (HL) have auditory impairments that may place them at increased risk for delays or variability in language development. However, obtaining reliable brain markers for early classification of young children with HL versus those with normal hearing (NH), as well as for precise assessment of HL children's language ability, remains a challenge due to limitations in traditional neuroimaging techniques and theoretical frameworks. To address this gap, we propose the maternal mirror hypothesis, which suggests that brain activities of mothers might mirror or indirectly reflect children's auditory language ability, offering an additional and useful approach for obtaining brain markers of HL children in clinical assessment. Method: Children aged 2--5 years with HL (n = 105) and NH (n = 89), along with their mothers, participated in the study. Brain activity in each mother--child dyad was simultaneously measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) while they watched a silent video together. From these data, we derived maternal and child intrapersonal brain functional connectivity (FC), as well as mother--child intersubject correlation (ISC). Children's language comprehension and production ability were assessed at baseline with a follow-up of their changes over 6 months. Results and Conclusions: We found that maternal brain FC or mother--child ISC outperformed child-based FC in predicting HL children's language comprehension and production, as well as their plastic changes across 6 months. Moreover, brain markers predicting HL children's language ability did not differ between groups of HL and NH, whereas those brain markers that classified HL versus NH group status were not correlated with HL children's language ability. This dissociation suggests distinct neural mechanisms underlying HL pathology with brain deficits versus the compensatory mechanisms with the functional recovery of HL children. These findings support the maternal mirror hypothesis, having the potential to address traditional challenges in early functional assessment and prediction of HL children by providing a novel neuroimaging approach and an original theoretical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research is the property of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
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  Data: Predicting the Auditory Language Ability of Young Children With Hearing Loss Using Their Mothers' Brain Activity.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Zhai%2C+Yu%22">Zhai, Yu</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Xing%2C+Yajing%22">Xing, Yajing</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Zhao%2C+Jianlong%22">Zhao, Jianlong</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22He%2C+XiangYu%22">He, XiangYu</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Jiang%2C+Kexin%22">Jiang, Kexin</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Zhang%2C+Tengfei%22">Zhang, Tengfei</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Lu%2C+Chunming%22">Lu, Chunming</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+Speech%2C+Language+%26+Hearing+Research%22">Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research</searchLink>. Oct2025, Vol. 68 Issue 10, p4996-5020. 25p.
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  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Communicative+competence%22">Communicative competence</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Down+syndrome%22">Down syndrome</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Brain%22">Brain</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Mothers%22">Mothers</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Intelligibility+of+speech%22">Intelligibility of speech</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Parenting%22">Parenting</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Mother-child+relationship%22">Mother-child relationship</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Language+acquisition%22">Language acquisition</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Children%22">Children</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Hearing+disorder+diagnosis%22">Hearing disorder diagnosis</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Research+funding%22">Research funding</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Maternal+age%22">Maternal age</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Near+infrared+spectroscopy%22">Near infrared spectroscopy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Age+distribution%22">Age distribution</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Genetic+disorders%22">Genetic disorders</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Conceptual+structures%22">Conceptual structures</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Analysis+of+variance%22">Analysis of variance</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Biomarkers%22">Biomarkers</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Purpose: Children with congenital hearing loss (HL) have auditory impairments that may place them at increased risk for delays or variability in language development. However, obtaining reliable brain markers for early classification of young children with HL versus those with normal hearing (NH), as well as for precise assessment of HL children's language ability, remains a challenge due to limitations in traditional neuroimaging techniques and theoretical frameworks. To address this gap, we propose the maternal mirror hypothesis, which suggests that brain activities of mothers might mirror or indirectly reflect children's auditory language ability, offering an additional and useful approach for obtaining brain markers of HL children in clinical assessment. Method: Children aged 2--5 years with HL (n = 105) and NH (n = 89), along with their mothers, participated in the study. Brain activity in each mother--child dyad was simultaneously measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) while they watched a silent video together. From these data, we derived maternal and child intrapersonal brain functional connectivity (FC), as well as mother--child intersubject correlation (ISC). Children's language comprehension and production ability were assessed at baseline with a follow-up of their changes over 6 months. Results and Conclusions: We found that maternal brain FC or mother--child ISC outperformed child-based FC in predicting HL children's language comprehension and production, as well as their plastic changes across 6 months. Moreover, brain markers predicting HL children's language ability did not differ between groups of HL and NH, whereas those brain markers that classified HL versus NH group status were not correlated with HL children's language ability. This dissociation suggests distinct neural mechanisms underlying HL pathology with brain deficits versus the compensatory mechanisms with the functional recovery of HL children. These findings support the maternal mirror hypothesis, having the potential to address traditional challenges in early functional assessment and prediction of HL children by providing a novel neuroimaging approach and an original theoretical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research is the property of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=ehh&AN=188657784
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      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1044/2025_JSLHR-25-00008
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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        StartPage: 4996
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Communicative competence
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Down syndrome
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Brain
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Mothers
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      – SubjectFull: Intelligibility of speech
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      – SubjectFull: Parenting
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      – SubjectFull: Mother-child relationship
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      – SubjectFull: Language acquisition
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      – SubjectFull: Children
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      – SubjectFull: Hearing disorder diagnosis
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      – SubjectFull: Research funding
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      – SubjectFull: Maternal age
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      – SubjectFull: Near infrared spectroscopy
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      – SubjectFull: Age distribution
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      – SubjectFull: Genetic disorders
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      – SubjectFull: Analysis of variance
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      – SubjectFull: Biomarkers
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    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Predicting the Auditory Language Ability of Young Children With Hearing Loss Using Their Mothers' Brain Activity.
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              M: 10
              Text: Oct2025
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              Y: 2025
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