Newborn Premature Babies are Vocal with their Parents

In a study conducted on 36 very premature infants who were born on an average during the 27^th week of pregnancy, it was found that they were exclusively vocal when the parents talk to them. This is a latest finding which can play a significant role in understanding the later language ability in United States. The premature babies are usually considered to be slower than the average babies as far as the language skills are concerned. It is also not very much sure that the sounds which they hear after the birth are related to later language development. However, the infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of one hospital have are considered to be in a different sound environment. According to Melinda Caskey, a renowned pediatrician at Women and Infants Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, the new born babies hear the mother’s voice more prominently.

In a study conducted on 40 infants by Caskey and her team, they found that the beeps and the whirls of medical equipments were more audible than the language which was heard from the infants. The case was different with the premature babies which were born in NICU. When these preemies hear adults talk, especially their parents, they also respond and become more vocal themselves responding with short vowel sounds. However, Caskey and her team which is conducting the research is yet to determine, whether the vocalization has any significance or not and whether it would play any role in the language development in the later part of their life.

The research was conducted by outfitting each baby with a vest that carried a digital recording device. The device captured environmental sounds and infant’s vocalizations for two 16-hour periods, one at 32^nd and the other at 36^th week of pregnancy. The researchers observed that the vocalizations were more at week 32 and it rose to as much as 129 percent when the baby’s parents were visiting. The babies were more vocal with their parents than the nurses who take care of them. In addition, the babies were so vocal that they also meet into conversational turns when the parents speak with them.

 

Although the babies were more vocal, the overall language accounted for only 2 to 5 percent of the total recorded sounds. Though the studies were conducted on a single NICU, Caskey’s team was assured that the environment of other NICUs would remain the same. The research team is now advising the parents and nurses to talk more often with the infants.