Finding the Words in the Blooming, Buzzing Confusion: Noise Impacts on Toddlers

Children learn language from hearing it around them, but much of the language they hear occurs in noisy or multi-talker environments. The language learning systems of the brain evolved in what were presumably far quieter ambient environments than present-day settings, where noise from traffic, television, and electronic devices are ubiquitous.  Recent work suggests that children are affected by background noise much more than are adults, limiting the extent to which they can benefit from the language input they receive, and leading to a catch-22: young children who are still trying to learn language have a greater need for understanding speech in noise, but are simultaneously less equipped to do so.

In order to understand and learn from speech in noisy environments, children must be able to both “separate” different sounds from one another, and pay attention selectively to the most important ones.  I will be discussing findings from our lab on toddler’s ability to recognize words, and learn new words, in the presence of background noise, including noise from other talkers; I will also report on a recent study examining this not only in typically-developing children, but also those diagnosed with autism.  Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders are less adept at separating speech from auditory distractors; if toddlers with autism are similarly w skilled than their peers, this could explain their elevated risk for language delay.