Fetal Audition And Cytomegalovirus Infection

As with all sensorialities in humans, hearing is established well before birth. The cochlear peripheral organ is ready to function by 28 weeks'. However maturation of the centers takes longer, with an overactive period during the first two years of life, and continuing more slowly until puberty. The fetus is therefore "hearing" and, in the absence of objective methods to quantify its performance, many behavioral studies allow to analyze its reactions to speech sounds or music. However, many questions remain unanswered as to the actual use he makes of his antenatal hearing acquisitions although these "auditory experiences" are likely to be important for the future development of the child. In 1 in 1000 newborn babies, hearing is failing at birth. Systematic screening in maternity is mandatory in France and should diagnose hearing failure and propose corrective measures to ensure normal oralization. Causes of congenital deafness are of genetic origin in about 2/3 of the cases and mainly of infectious origin for the last 1/3, largely dominated by congenital cytomegalovirus infection (cCMV), originating from maternal infection in the first trimester of pregnancy. Since prevention of fetal transmission is available and early management of affected neonates improves their prognosis; screening for cCMV infection at birth and in the first trimester of pregnancy seems justified in order to improve prevention of infection and its consequences as well as the awareness of health professionals. (C) 2020 l'Academie nationale de medecine. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.