Does ‘Baby Talk’ Really Help Your Baby Learn to Speak?

You may feel silly doing it, but baby talk helps your infant learn the basics of human language, a new study suggests.

By mimicking the sound of a smaller vocal tract, baby talk guides babies on how words should sound coming out of their own mouths, the researchers explain.

“It seems to stimulate motor production of speech, not just the perception of speech,” study author Matthew Masapollo, an assistant professor in the University of Florida’s Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences shares.

“It’s not just goo-goo ga-ga,” he said in a university news release.

In this study, Masapollo and his colleagues changed the frequency of sounds to mimic either an infant or adult vocal tract, and assessed infants’ reactions.

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Babies who were 6 to 8 months old “displayed a robust and distinct preference for speech with resonances specifying a vocal tract that is similar in size and length to their own,” the study authors wrote.

However, 4- to 6-month-old babies didn’t have that preference. It may be that older babies’ emerging ability to control their voices and produce words out of babble makes the infant-like sounds more appealing to them, the researchers suggest.

Baby talk may sound simple but it is accomplishing a lot, according to study co-author Linda Polka, from McGill University in Montreal.

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“We’re trying to engage with the infant to show them something about speech production,” Polka said in the release. “We’re priming them to process their own voice.”

While parents are sometimes discouraged from engaging in baby talk, this research shows the patterns associated with such talk could play an important role in helping infants develop speech.

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What can you do to help your child’s development?

It is important to remember that children develop at their own rate. Your child might not have all skills until the end of the age range. However, there are some things you can do in addition to baby talk to help their development:

• Check if your child can hear. See if he or she turns to noises or looks at you when you talk. You should also pay attention to ear problems and infections and contact your child’s doctor if you notice anything abnormal.
• Respond to your child. Look at him or her when they make noises. Talk to them. Imitate the sounds they make.
• Laugh when they do. Imitate the faces they make.
• Teach your baby to imitate actions, like peek-a-boo, clapping, blowing kisses, and waving bye-bye. This teaches them how to take turns. We take turns when we talk.
• Talk about what you do during the day. Say things like “Mommy is washing your hair”; “You are eating peas”; and “Oh, these peas are good!”
• Talk about where you go, what you do there, and who and what you see. Say things like, “We are going to Grandma’s house. Grandma has a dog. You can pet the dog.”
• Teach animal sounds, like “A cow says ‘moo.’”
• Read to your child every day.
• Talk to your child in the language you are most comfortable using.