Recent Study Reveals That Pre-Babbling Infants Prefer Listening to “Baby Talk”

The urge to use ‘baby talk’ when interacting with a young infant is something most parents come by naturally. This intuition is usually attributed to a nurturing instinct, but a recent study shows that “infant-directed speech,” characterized by higher pitches and frequencies, is linked to infants’ measurable preference for these sounds over normal adult vocalizations. The study, released in the November 2015 edition of Developmental Science, not only has implications for speech development, but may also provide new directions for addressing the effect of hearing loss on speech development.

A research team featuring Professor Linda Polka and McGill University/UQAM conducted a study involving “pre-babbling” four to six-month old infants exposed to vowel sounds articulated by both infants and adults using a synthesizer. Across a range of four experiments, the team measured the length of the infants’ attention span for both sounds. They found that, on average, infant vowel sounds held the babies’ attention up to 40% longer than those made by adults. The team noted that, even though the infants had not yet begun ‘talking,’ they showed greater interest in the sounds they were capable of producing.  This shows that speech-production ability influences how they process infant speech.

The most important applications and research directions expanding from this study are within the fields of hearing and speech development. Since an attraction to infant speech sounds may support and even accelerate early language development, healthy hearing is vital. Although most all newborns receive an initial hearing screening before they are released from the hospital, the test is, at best, 90% accurate at detecting hearing loss. Milder cases or late-onset hearing loss may be missed by screenings, so it’s important for parents to closely monitor their children for signs of hearing loss in between routine checkups.

Parents should specifically note whether their baby responds to voices and softer noises in a quiet environment and if they startle at sudden loud noises. It’s also important for them to ensure their child is on schedule for language development, and address any concerns with the infant’s physician during wellness checkups. The earlier hearing loss is detected, the less it will interfere with language and other important stages of infant development.=

This is why it is important to ensure infants are screened early on for hearing loss and carefully monitored by parents for any signs of delayed language development.