Table 2.
Characteristics of the home auditory environment.
| High-Risk NICU Group at Term equivalent age |
High-Risk Home Group (n=25) Mean (h: min) ± SD |
Mean Difference (h: min) |
95% Confidence Interval of the Mean Difference (h: min) |
Univariate P valuea |
Multivariate P valueb |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Over a 16-Hour Period | Mean (h: min) ± SD |
||||||
| Amount of time spent with meaningful language | Total (n=48) | 0:33 ± 0:23 | 0:39 ± 0:27 | 0:06 | 0.46 | 0.17 | |
| Open Ward (n=24) | 0:31 ± 0:23 | −0:08 | [−0:22, 0:07] | 0.30 | |||
| Private Room (n=24) | 0:35 ± 0:25 | −0:04 | [−0:18, 0:11] | 0.80 | |||
| Amount of time spent with distant language | Total (n=48) | 0:53 ± 0:53 | 0:52 ± 0:53 | −0:01 | 0.38 | 0.09 | |
| Open Ward (n=24) | 1:11 ± 0:50 | 0:18 | [0.03, 0.54]c | 0.03 | |||
| Private Room (n=24) | 0:36 ± 0:53 | −0:17 | [−0.03, 0.18]c | 0.55 | |||
| Amount of time spent with all language (meaningful+ distant) | Total (n=48) | 1:27 ± 1:02 | 1:31 ± 1:19 | 0:05 | [−0:27, 0:37] | 0.84 | 0.09 |
| Open Ward (n=24) | 1:42 ± 1:03 | 0:10 | [−0:27, 0:47] | 0.39 | |||
| Private Room (n=24) | 1:11 ± 0:59 | −0:21 | [−0:57, 0:16] | 0.61 | |||
| Amount of time spent with TV/electronic sound | Total (n=48) | 3:50 ± 3:07 | 3:13 ± 2:15 | −0:36 | [−2:00, 0:48] | 0.91 | 0.02 |
| Open Ward (n=24) | 5:19 ± 3:16 | 2:05 | [0:36, 3:34] | 0.04 | |||
| Private Room (n=24) | 2:21 ± 2:07 | −0:53 | [−2:22, 0:36] | 0.07 | |||
| Amount of time spent with noise | Total (n=48) | 1:49 ± 2:20 | 0:31 ± 1:25 | −1:18 | <0.001 | <0.001 | |
| Open Ward (n=24) | 1:31 ± 1:07 | 1:00 | [0.57,1.30]c | <0.001 | |||
| Private Room (n=24) | 2:08 ± 2:07 | 1:37 | [0.28, 1.01]c | 0.001 | |||
| Amount of time spent in silence | Total (n=48) | 8:43 ± 3:51 | 10:43 ± 2:50 | 2:00 | 0.01 | 0.17 | |
| Open Ward (n=24) | 7:07 ± 2:58 | −3:36 | [−5:29, −1:42] | 0.003 | |||
| Private Room (n=24) | 10:20 ± 4:01 | −0:23 | [−2:17, 1:30] | 0.34 | |||
| Total number of spoken words around the infant in 16-hour period | Total (n=48) | 4,877 ± 3,848 | 5,142.8 ± 4,940.3 | 265.9 | 0.94 | 0.17 | |
| Open Ward (n=24) | 5,185.5 ± 4,162.3 | 42.7 | [−2391.9, 2477.3] | 0.86 | |||
| Private Room (n=24) | 4,568.3 ± 3,469.1 | −574.5 | [−3009.1, 1860.1] | 0.76 | |||
| Average decibels | Total (n=48) | 57.2 ± 2.3 | 56.4 ± 4.7 | −0.76 | 0.45 | 0.84 | |
| Open Ward (n=24) | 58.0 ± 1.9 | 1.6 | [−0.2, 3.5] | 0.08 | |||
| Private Room (n=24) | 56.3 ± 2.4 | −0.1 | [−1.9, 1.7] | 0.91 | |||
| Highest decibel stimulus | Total (n=48) | 87.2 ± 1.2 | 86.4 ± 1.5 | −0.83 | 0.02 | 0.11 | |
| Open Ward (n=24) | 87.1 ± 1.38 | 0.8 | [0.01, 1.5] | 0.05 | |||
| private room (n=24) | 7.3 ± 1.2 | 0.9 | [0.1, 1.7] | 0.02 |
P value is from investigating differences in auditory exposures using independent sample t-tests after log transformation of LENA time measures and adult word count. Additional analyses using ANOVA were used to explore differences between each NICU room type and the home environment.
P-value is from investigating differences in auditory exposures using using a multivariate model controlling for EGA and insurance type after log transformation of LENA time measures and adult word count
represents log transformation of data.
Note: High-risk NICU group, both open ward and private room, defined as NICU auditory environment at term-equivalent age (36-40 weeks PMA) at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Level IV NICU; High-risk home group defined as home auditory environment following NICU discharge of high-risk infants (39-54 weeks PMA); bolded values have reached significance of p<0.05; Note: All Language is defined as the sum of meaningful language and distant language during the 16-hour period