The auditory environment in infancy is primarily dominated by speech and music, with speech being recognized as crucial for language development in children. However, the amount of music that infants hear has not been extensively studied. A University of Washington study aimed to compare the exposure of infants to speech and music in their home environments. The results showed that infants hear more spoken language than music, with the gap widening as they get older. The study highlights the importance of understanding the role of music in infant development.
The researchers analyzed daylong audio recordings collected in the home environments of English-learning infants at ages 6, 10, 14, 18, and 24 months. The analysis revealed that infants were exposed to more music from electronic devices than from in-person sources at every age. In contrast, the amount of speech intended for infants significantly increased over time, while the amount of music remained the same. The findings suggest that while infants are exposed to more speech, the music they hear is not primarily intended for them but rather serves as ambient background noise.
Previous research by the team had shown that engaging, movement-oriented music interventions could enhance infants’ neural responses to speech sounds. This led the researchers to investigate the impact of real-world music exposure on infants. The study sheds light on the discrepancy between the stimulating music used in interventions and the passive background music that infants are typically exposed to in everyday life. Understanding the role of music in infancy is essential for comprehensively exploring its influence on developmental outcomes.
The study utilized Language Environment Analysis (LENA) recording devices to capture infants’ natural sound environments. This allowed researchers to analyze the amount of speech and music that infants were exposed to on a daily basis. Through crowdsourcing on the Zooniverse platform, volunteers annotated the LENA data to identify instances of speech and music in the recordings. The study provides a valuable contribution to the field by using objective data to quantify infants’ exposure to music alongside speech.
Future research will focus on expanding the dataset to explore whether the findings can be generalized to different cultures and populations. A follow-up study will investigate LENA recordings from infants in Latinx families to further understand the relationship between music exposure and developmental outcomes. Researchers are also interested in exploring when music moments occur in infants’ lives and whether they are correlated with specific developmental milestones. Overall, the study highlights the importance of considering both speech and music in infants’ auditory environments.
The study was conducted by a team of researchers led by Christina Zhao, a research assistant professor at the University of Washington. Other co-authors included Lindsay Hippe, Victoria Hennessy, and Naja Ferjan Ramírez. The research was funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. By examining the amount of music and speech that infants are exposed to in their everyday lives, the study provides valuable insights into the auditory environment of infants and its potential impact on their development.