Speech Discrimination In Infants
By Stephanie Blay Muah, BSc Neuroscience
The ability of infants to discern between various linguistics or speech sounds, languages and dialects is referred to as speech discrimination. Infants may distinguish between speech sounds as early as a few weeks old and can recognize a variety of different languages during the first year of life. At birth and until about 6 months of age, infants are capable of discriminating the consonants and vowels that make up words universally across languages (Kuhl et al., 2014).
There are various factors that affect infant speech discrimination. Exposure to many different languages is one of the major factors. Newborns exposed and accustomed to multiple languages have a greater capacity to discriminate between different languages. Phonemic discrimination refers to distinguishing between acoustically similar sounds (differing frequency, duration, intensity) that distinguish meaning in the language (i.e., the phonemes and the underlying representation stored in the mental lexicon) (Smith, 2021).
Another important factor that influences speech discrimination in infants is the exposure to different speech sounds. According to research, babies can distinguish between distinct speech sounds as early as a few weeks old. This skill is known as categorical perception. Categorical perception” (CP) corresponds to the extent to which acoustic differences between variants of the same phoneme are less perceptible than differences of the same acoustic magnitude between two different phonemes. (Serniclaes, 2003). An example is the “p” and “b” sounds. Although “b" and "p" sounds are identical, neonates (infants under four weeks) can tell them apart.
Also, another factor worth noting is the environment in which the child is subjected to language. The environment in which a child is nurtured, grows and experiences life is a very important foundation. Neonates exposed to a rich language environment and a high-quality lexicon, have been proven to show a better speech discrimination skill as compared to infants with a poor or limited language environment.
The prenatal developmental stage is a very important stage of pregnancy. Prenatal development has a significant impact on the auditory and visual sensory functions of the baby in the womb, and birth weight was found to be positively associated with hearing and visual functions (Olsen et al., 2001). This leads me to my next factor that influences speech discrimination among infants, prenatal development. Infants can distinguish between speech sounds from various languages even before birth, according to studies, proving that the developing fetus is capable of processing speech sounds it hears in its environment.
In addition to these factors, genetics play a role in speech discrimination abilities in infants. Some infants are birthed with genetic susceptability to be better at speech discrimination than others.
In conclusion, there are various factors that affects speech discrimination in infants such as, experiences with various languages, exposure to different speech sounds, the quality of language environment, prenatal languages exposure and genetic influences. Further studies are required to completely grasp the biological principles of speech discrimination abilities among infants.
References
Kuhl, P. K., Ramírez, R. R., Bosseler, A., Lin, J.-F. L., & Imada, T. (n.d.). Infants’ brain responses to speech suggest Analysis by Synthesis. Pnas.org. Retrieved February 7, 2023, from https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1410963111
Olsen, J., Sørensen, H. T., Steffensen, F. H., Sabroe, S., Gillman, M. W., Fischer, P., & Rothman, K. J. (2001). The association of indicators of fetal growth with visual acuity and hearing among conscripts. Epidemiology, 12(2), 235-238. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001648-200103000-00017
Serniclaes, W. (2003, March 20). Categorical perception of speech sounds and dyslexia. https://journals.openedition.org/cpl/379
Smith, S. A. (n.d.). Phonetic discrimination phonological awareness and pre-literacy skills in Spanish-English dual language preschoolers½Journal of child language. Cambridge core. https:// www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-child-language/article/abs/phonetic-disrimination-phonological-awareness-and-preliteracy-skills-in-spanishenglish-dual-language-preschoolers/3B8FA14B47162C733681832B326CF745
Photo: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/developmentaldisabilities/language-disorders.html