Baby's Speech-Babbling Based On Hearing

An infants' vocalizations may also be linked to the baby's ability to hear, according to researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

In this recent study that's published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, the study authors discovered how infants with profound hearing loss who received cochlear implants to help correct their hearing soon reached the vocalization levels of their hearing peers, putting them on track for language development.

"Hearing is a critical aspect of infants' motivation to make early sounds," said Mary Fagan, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Science and Disorders in the MU School of Health Professions, in a news release. "This study shows babies are interested in speech-like sounds and that they increase their babbling when they can hear."

Researchers studied the vocalizations of 27 hearing infants and 16 infants with profound hearing loss who were all candidates for cochlear hearing implants.

Findings revealed that profound hearing loss vocalized significantly less than hearing infants.

However, when the infants with profound hearing loss received cochlear implants, the infants' vocalizations increased to the same levels as their hearing peers within four months of receiving the implants.

"After the infants received their cochlear implants, the significant difference in overall vocalization quantity was no longer evident," Fagan added. "These findings support the importance of early hearing screenings and early cochlear implantation."

In future research, Fagan hopes to study whether infants explore the sounds of objects such as musical toys to the same degree they explore vocalization.