Can a newborn's brain discriminate speech sounds?

(University of Barcelona) People's ability to perceive speech sounds has been deeply studied, specially during someone's first year of life, but what happens during the first hours after birth? Are babies born with innate abilities to perceive speech sounds, or do neural encoding processes need to age for some time?
Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news