Sing to Your Baby: Study Shows it Boosts Language Learning

A new study conducted by an Indian-origin Cambridge University neuroscientist suggests that singing rhymes and alphabets to babies can significantly enhance their language learning abilities. The study, co-authored by Professor Usha Goswami from the University of Cambridge and researchers from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, was recently published in the Nature Communications journal.

The researchers explored the phonetic information processing skills of infants during their first year of life. They found that babies learn languages primarily through rhythmic information rather than phonetic information in the early months. Professor Goswami emphasized that parents should start using sing-song speech, such as nursery rhymes, as soon as possible, as it aids in language acquisition.

The study revealed that individual speech sounds are not reliably processed by babies until around seven months of age. By this point, however, most infants can recognize familiar words like “bottle.” The slow addition of individual speech sounds does not adequately support language development. Instead, rhythmic speech helps babies learn language by highlighting the boundaries of individual words, even in their first few months of life.

Traditionally, linguists considered phonetic information, represented by the alphabet, as the foundation of language. Babies were thought to learn these individual sound elements and combine them to form words. However, this study challenges that notion. It suggests that phonetic information is learned slowly and late for it to be the main driver of language acquisition. Instead, rhythmic speech emphasizes word boundaries and proves to be more effective in the early months.

To conduct the research, the scientists recorded patterns of electrical brain activity in 50 infants at four, seven, and eleven months old. The infants watched a video of a primary school teacher singing 18 nursery rhymes. An algorithm decoded the brainwaves’ low-frequency bands, providing insights into the phonological information being encoded.

The study showed that babies gradually develop phonetic encoding skills over the first year of life. Initially, labial sounds (e.g., “d” for “daddy”) and nasal sounds (e.g., “m” for “mummy”) dominate, with the decoding progressively resembling that of adults.

Professor Giovanni Di Liberto, the study’s first author from Trinity College Dublin, highlighted that this research provides the first evidence of how brain activity relates to changes in phonetic information processing over time. Previous studies comparing responses to nonsense syllables like “bif” and “bof” were unable to provide a comprehensive understanding.

This study is part of the BabyRhythm project led by Professor Goswami, which investigates language learning and its relationship with dyslexia and developmental language disorder.

According to Professor Goswami, rhythmic information, such as the stress and rising and falling tones in speech, is crucial for language learning. Infants can use these rhythmic cues as a foundation for adding phonetic information. For instance, they may learn that English words typically follow a strong-weak rhythm pattern, like “daddy” or “mummy,” with stress on the first syllable. This knowledge enables them to guess where one word ends and another begins while listening to natural speech.

Goswami urged parents to talk and sing to their babies as much as possible using infant-directed speech and nursery rhymes. She believes that this approach can significantly impact language outcomes. She also emphasized that rhythm is a universal aspect of all languages worldwide, stating that we are biologically wired to emphasize rhythm when speaking to babies.

Professor Goswami further noted that the emphasis on phonetic problems in explaining dyslexia and developmental language disorder lacks substantial evidence. She believes that individual differences in children’s language abilities originate from rhythm.

The study was funded by the European Research Council and Science Foundation Ireland under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

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