Spoken language development in infants who are deaf or hard of hearing: The role of maternal infant-directed speech

How do children learn spoken language? Most children with typical hearing learn from infancy the sound of their mother's voice, a type of speech researchers call infantdirected speech. Mothers, fathers and most adults speak to infants in a sing-song manner, exaggerating the melody and rhythm of their speech. But what happens when this connection is broken, such as with a child who has hearing loss? This article will discuss the importance of infant-directed speech, and how infants with hearing loss respond to such talk in comparison to infants with typical hearing. How do children learn spoken language? In children who are developing typically, this feat is accomplished more or less naturally through acfive experiences with caregivers and the child's environment. Parents don't enroll infants and toddlers in spoken language classes; instead, they model, encourage, and stimulate their speech and language attempts by responding to the cries and coos of infants and holding simple conversafions with toddlers. In fact, caregivers across the world actually speak to their infants and young children using a special style of speech commonly known as babytalk or motherese. Researchers and scholars call this infant-directed speech. Mothers, fathers, and even strangers off the streets speak to infants in a sing-song marmer, exaggerating the melody and rhythm of their speech (e.g., Ferguson, 1964; Fernald, 1989). Caregivers are flexible with this speech style, adjusting the levels of exaggerafion according to the social context and their infant's age (e.g., Kitamura, Thanavishuth, Burnham, & Luksaneeyanawin, 2002; Stern, Spieker, Bamett, & MacKain, 1983). This speech style is now known to contribute in many ways not only to irifants' social-emofional development, but also to their speech, language, and cognifive development (e.g., Liu, Kuhl, & Tsao, 2003). Tonya R. Bergeson-Dana , Ph.D., is an associate professor, Philip F. Holton Investigator, and co-director of the Babytalk Research Laboratory in the Department ofOtolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Ind. She received undergraduate degrees in music theory and psychology from Northwestern University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from the University of Toronto. Bergeson is currently interested in three areas of research: the effects of hearing loss and subsequent amplification via hearing aids or cochlear implants on mothers' speech to infants with mild to profound hearing loss; the development of multimodal perception skills in infants who are deaf following amplification; and the effects of cochlear implantation and hearing experience on music perception and production in infants, children, and adults. She is particularly interested in the effiects of early experience on developing language and auditory -perception.

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