module 6: auditory and language development Flashcards
(13 cards)
when are auditory sensory organs fully formed in utero?
24 weeks
how does the foetus hear in the womb
The way that fetus’ can hear is via bone
conduction, so the sounds reach the infant via the amniotic fluid that they are in within their
mother’s womb, and the so while the sound does not penetrate their ear, it is conducted via the
bones, and the fetus’ skull serves as a transducer of sorts. The sounds that are then heard are
mostly low frequency sounds.
what is binaural input
So by birth, infants’ auditory development is already well underway, but they now have binaural
input, so they can hear from both ears. This allows for sound localization. This hearing function
is vital for survival, as babies grow into toddlers are then children, sound localization will be
used to protect themselves from dangers in their environment.
what is infant-directed speech
” It’s a natural speech register we slip we slip
into universally when we see a cute baby, and despite the names motherese and maternal
speech it’s not just mothers who use it, everyone does
how does infant directed speech work?
The speech is characterized by its acoustic and prosodic features which have been wellstudied. These include pitch which is higher and more variable than the pitch we use in adult
speech, when we speak in infant-directed speech with tend to use a slower tempo and more
pauses, we also use more simple, shorter sentences. We also elongate the vowels in the
speech, called hyper-articulation. And finally, the speech is considered to convey much more
positive affect, or positive emotion than typical adult speech.
how does infant-directed speech facilitate language acquisition
So we’ve just discussed how infant-directed speech can facilitate language acquisition, and
this is through it being both attention-grabbing, and the vowel hyperarticulation it conveys
what is invariance problems
invariance problems - So infants need to resolve this invariance, this
inconsistency across pronunciations, to learn what incorporates a P sound, and what
incorporates a T sound, etc
what is talk variability?
Infants also need work out how to navigate talk variability – which is the fact that speakers can
say the same thing but can sound a bit different, so being able to recognize the same utterance
regardless of the speaker. This includes speakers of different ages, genders, accents, etc
after invariance problems and talk variability, what is the final challenge infants face with language
understanding what words are:
In some languages this would be easier than
others, but there would be languages where you would not be able to do this
Additionally, they learn how speech sound units are ordered and the rhythmic patterns
characteristic of their language. Finally, and importantly, they need to be able to store the words
they learn, so build their lexicon.
what is perceptual reorganisation
So you can think of perceptual reorganization as a progression from a general mode of speech
processing to a very language specific mode of processing of speech sounds. This change
happens through age and linguistic experience, so as the infant’s gaining more experience with
their native language, these changes are happening, and these changes are happening
alongside the developmental changes in the brain as the infant brain attunes to the relevant
speech sounds.
what are the early stages of speech for infants
So in the early months of life, infants are goo-goo-ing and making some
sort of nasal vocalizations. Around 4 months, they start to produce isolated consonant and
vowel sounds. By around eight months, they start to make canonical babbling sounds. This is
the pairing of a consonant with a vowel sound. Around 12 months, they start producing their first words. And
between around 16 to 18 months, they start to use jargon
what is the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory
This
is a well-known and well-used inventory that is quite extensive and asks parents to note down
the words their baby understands (their receptive vocabulary) as well as the words their baby
says (their Expressive vocabulary). T
what is the Australian version of the MacArthur-bates communicative development inventory
OZI, or the Australian-English Developmental Vocabulary Inventory
