Study Reveals That Babies Actually Learn Speech Earlier Than Previously Thought

Amaze Lab

Previous investigations detailed that babies only start learning how to decipher and reproduce speech sounds at between 6 and 12 months. Now experts say it could be much earlier and the impacts on language acquisition could be huge.

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00:00Babies might be associated with, well, baby talk, but a new study outlines that despite

00:08our inclination to take things slow with infants, they are much more capable much earlier than

00:12previously believed. Previous investigations detailed that babies only start learning how

00:17to decipher and reproduce speech sounds at between 6 and 12 months. Now experts say it

00:22could begin as early as 4. The study used two artificial mini-languages. They utilized both

00:27lip-based and tongue-tip sounds pairing both with cartoon images. When later shown silent

00:32videos of people speaking new words, babies looked longer at videos where mouth movements

00:36matched their learned patterns. The researchers say this proved they are actively connecting

00:40sound and sight. Adding that this suggests babies begin processing speech mechanics before they

00:44refine their ability to recognize native language sounds. This could prove to impact language

00:49teaching for kids, detecting and intervening on delayed speech and language abilities.

00:53Experts say the next step will include experiments to figure out whether infants

00:57can detect other speech properties and how bilingual environments influence early language

01:02language learning.

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