Caregivers in an environment supporting this process will:
References (note: while no research could be found demonstrating that infants understand the meaning of what is being said to them, the following studies indicate their ability to distinguish rhythms and differences between certain words. Further research is needed to support some clinicians' empirical observations that infants understand the intent of what is being uttered to them):
Abstract 1:
Premise: Using sucking as a marker to determine speech perception between canonical and noncanonical syllables.
Research Question: Can newborn infants distinguish between syllables that are either consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC, or canonical) or consonant only (CCC, or noncanonical)?
Background: Speech is more salient to newborns than other sounds. Newborns alter their sucking patterns to singing voices, but not to instrumental music. They are specifically responsive to their mother’s voice. The CVC presented was pat or tap. The CCC presented was pst or tsp.
Subjects: Four groups of 10 infants between 27 and 81 hours postbirth.
Study Design: Infants were in two experimental groups and two control groups. They were stimulated by the monotone, taped voice of a male who presented pat and tap as a pair (canonical) or pst and tsp as a pair (noncanonical). If the infants initiated a sucking burst at the word pat or pst, they initiated a recording of their mother’s voice. If the infants sucked at tap or tsp, they initiated silence.
Findings: When given pat and tap, infants more often activated their mother’s voice. When given pst and tsp infants more often activated silence. In all tests, the infants did discriminate sounds. It is noted that many languages use noncanonical sounds (such as pst) to gain attention.
Research reviewed by Sherry Dailey, RN, while a student at Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Nursing, in Richmond, VA.
Abstract 2:
Premise: Newborns can conceptually structure complex speech inputs.
Research Question: Can 4-day-old infants discriminate multisyllabic utterances on the basis of the number of syllables?
Background: Like adults, infants organize thought patterns according to syllables and segments in speech. They signal their attention to or preference for sounds by imitating sucking on a nonnutritive nipple.
Subjects: A total of 86 infants during third to fourth day postdelivery.
Study Design: Infants were randomly assigned to one of two preshift stimulus conditions and one of two experimental conditions. Responses were measured by sucking criterion. An adjustable mechanical arm holds the pacifier. A female speaker recorded the syllables and sequences for 150 items.
Findings: The results indicated that the infants noticed a difference between the two consonant-vowel and the three consonant-vowel syllables and that the discrimination was not merely on the basis of the overall duration. The sucking rates in the experimental group increased while the control group had no difference in the sucking rate. Thus, infants are actively processing the speech they hear.
Research reviewed by Sherry Dailey, RN, while a student at Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Nursing, in Richmond, VA.
Abstract 3:
Research Question: Can infants determine different stress patterns in multisyllabic, accented words?
Background: Infants use prosodic (rhythm) cues to identify words in speech because they cannot rely on syntax.
Subjects: A total of 66 newborns between 48 and 72 hours old.
Study Design: The infants were stimulated by words recorded in a female’s voice. The tape was 1,100 ms., with 450 ms. of silence between the stimuli. Responses were measured by a high amplitude sucking procedure. The test lasted 9 minutes.
Findings: Newborns were shown by their suckling bursts to discriminate the accented patterns of both disyllabic and trisyllabic words.
Research reviewed by Sherry Dailey, RN, while a student at Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Nursing, in Richmond, VA.