Babies Start Learning How Speech is Formed as Early as Four Months

It might appear like an eighteen-week-old baby isn’t doing much more than looking cute and smiling. Behind their endearing faces and winsome expressions is an active and engaged brain that is continually making connections about the world around them.

According to new research published in Developmental Science those as young as four months are busy. They’re already linking the sounds they hear and the way the mouth needs to move to produce these sounds.

Infants Connect What They Hear and See
Eylem Altuntas, the study’s lead author, describes the study in The Conversation. The research team taught a group of infants, between four and six months old, a series of nonsense words, such as “bivawo” or “dizalo,” that contained lip and tongue-tip sounds. They paired these words with cartoon images showing jellyfish and crabs.

Next, the babies in the study were shown videos of people mouthing (without sound) these same nonsense words. In some videos, the face matched the cartoon image that they had been shown with that sound previously and in other videos it didn’t. Researchers measured how long babies spent looking at the videos. This method is commonly used to gauge what captures infants’ interests and how much they understand. 

The results showed that babies looked much longer at the videos where the face matched what they had been shown previously. This demonstrated that the babies’ minds were already making connections between the movements of mouths and the sounds they heard.

Tuning Out Sounds
The findings surprised researchers because they upended a prior hypothesis about how babies learn language. While it was previously believed that babies go through a process called perceptual attunement between six and 12 months old, babies begin learning patterns at four months instead. 

Before six months, infants can tell the difference between sounds and tones in their native language and those not in their native language. Babies younger than six months, for example, can discern the subtle differences between Mandarin tones and Hindi contrasts, even when growing up in an English household. Beginning at around half a year old, babies start “tuning out” the sounds, tones, and subtleties that they don’t hear often. 

Previously, researchers believed that this process was necessary in order for babies to learn language skills that are more complex. However, this new study reveals that babies are already making the connections on how sounds are made, even before they latch onto specific sounds and languages.

Opportunities and Questions
The research may be able to assist children who face speech issues, and may make a big difference by helping them earlier on. 

The findings also provide opportunities for further research on what types of mouth movements young infants can discern, including whether they can differentiate between sounds like “b” and “p.” It also raises questions about how babies from bilingual homes learn language. 

Helping Babies Develop Language
What is clear from this study is that babies are already putting together the puzzle pieces of language from early infancy. Your child is listening to what you say and how you say it before they can respond back to you.

KidsHealth recommends having conversations with four- to seven-month old babies. Speak in a slow tone, emphasizing your words, and then pause, waiting for the baby to answer. Teach your little one words by labeling objects around you. And imitate their early babbles. 

Not only are these games fun for you and your child, they reinforce the sounds and movements of speech. Infants are already connecting all the puzzle pieces, and by speaking and interacting with them frequently, parents can help them put it all together.