What do babies listen to most? A developmental study of auditory preferences in nonhandicapped infants and infants with Down's syndrome

Bibliographic Data

ID9791876
AuthorsSHEILA M GLENN, Sheila Glenn (corresponding author), C C CUNNINGHAM, Colleen Cunningham (0000-0002-4238-4458)
Year1983
Volume19
Issue3
Pages332-337
Publication date1983-05-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDevelopmental Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0012-1649 • E-ISSN: 1939-0599
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037/0012-1649.19.3.332
OpenAlexW2158148660, W4241762221
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited1

The auditory preferences of 10 infants with Down's syndrome and 10 nonhandicapped infants were studied at the developmental ages of around 9 months and 18 months. We used an apparatus that allows infants to choose to listen to one of a pair of auditory stimuli and that records their responses. At both ages, an infant had the choice of listening first to either a children's rhyme or a repetitive tone, and second to either the mother talking to her own child (baby talk) or the mother talking to an adult. At both ages, both groups of infants significantly preferred to listen to the children's rhyme and to the baby talk. At the developmental age of 9 months, both groups listened significantly more to nursery rhymes than to spoken stimuli; by 18 months, nonhandicapped infants showed a significant increase in listening to baby talk, which they then listened to longer than to rhymes. Infants with Down's syndrome showed a significant decrease in listening to baby talk at this age and still listened longer to rhymes. Implications for further research and intervention are discussed. Several studies have noted that expressive language is delayed in children with Down's syndrome and that there is a long plateau of little observable development between the first few words and the appearance of twoand three-word phrases. Rondal (1982) noted that meaningful speech does not appear before 24 months of age, at which time it is less than 5% of all utterances, and it increases only slowly up to 4 years of age. What is not clear is how these delays relate to the reception and comprehension of speech and what is the effective speech environment of the young child. Such information is required to inform intervention efforts with mentally handicapped children (Butterfield & Cairns, 1976)

Developmental psychology · Child Development and Digital Technology · Early Childhood Education and Development · Psychological and Educational Research Studies · Psychology

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