What we know of the central auditory disorders in children exposed to alcohol during pregnancy? Systematic review.

Purpose To identify the effects of alcohol intake during pregnancy on the central auditory nervous system in relation to their possible diagnosis, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, partial Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Alcohol-Related Birth Defects and Alcohol-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder, his extension and the hearing assessment method. Research strategy Systematic and integrative review searched the databases PubMed, LILACS and SciELO, with terms in Portuguese and English “fetal alcohol syndrome”, “alcohol-related disorders” associated with “hearing”. Selection criteria: We identified 123 abstracts, six were selected and published until May 2015. Data analysis Were listed topics to be answered, characterization of the sample; the diagnosis result of fetal exposure; method of hearing assessment and described results. Results Among the behavioral assessments, Verbal Dichotic Tests with syllables and sentences and Speech in Noise Test, were used. Among the electrophysiological tests, the Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potential was detected change neural synchrony, and Long-Latency Auditory Evoked Potential – P300, early latency values. Conclusion There is evidence that children exposed to alcohol in utero present central auditory nervous system involvement signals, but it was not possible to identify the influence of different subtypes and their losses. Cortical auditory pathways were the most investigated and the electrophysiological method as used with an unexpected result in two of them, early N2 and P300 latency.