Newborns are able to neurally discriminate between speech and nonspeech right after birth. To date it remains unknown whether this early speech discrimination and the underlying neural language network is associated with later language development. Preterm-born children are an interesting cohort to investigate this relationship, as previous…

Prosody is the fundamental organizing principle of spoken language, carrying lexical, morphosyntactic, and pragmatic information. It, therefore, provides highly relevant input for language development. Are infants sensitive to this important aspect of spoken language early on? In this study, we asked whether infants are able to discriminate…

Familial risk for developmental dyslexia can compromise auditory and speech processing and subsequent language and literacy development. According to the phonological deficit theory, supporting phonological development during the sensitive infancy period could prevent or ameliorate future dyslexic symptoms. Music is an established method for…

Fetal hearing experiences shape the linguistic and musical preferences of neonates. From the very first moment after birth, newborns prefer their native language, recognize their mother's voice, and show a greater responsiveness to lullabies presented during pregnancy. Yet, the neural underpinnings of this experience inducing plasticity have…

Language experience shapes infants' abilities to process speech sounds, with universal phonetic discrimination abilities narrowing in the second half of the first year. Brain measures reveal a corresponding change in neural discrimination as the infant brain becomes selectively sensitive to its native language(s). Whether and how bilingual…

The ability to statistically segment a continuous auditory stream is one of the most important preparations for initiating language learning. Such ability is available to human infants at 8 months of age, as shown by a behavioral measurement. However, behavioral study alone cannot determine how early this ability is available. A recent study using…

These are the proceedings of 2012 AG Bell Research Symposium, presented July 1, 2012, as part of the AG Bell 2012 Convention. The session was moderated by Tamala S. Bradham, Ph.D., CCC-A. The papers presented at the proceedings are the following: (1) The Queens of Audition; (2) Speech Perception and Hearing Loss; (3) The Restoration of Speech…

The peripheral manifestations of the inherited neuropathies are increasingly well characterized, but their effects upon cranial nerve function are not well understood. Hearing loss is recognized in a minority of children with this condition, but has not previously been systemically studied. A clear understanding of the prevalence and degree of…

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) can be effectively used to record fetal and neonatal cognitive abilities/functions by recording completely non-invasively the magnetic fields produced by the active neurons in the brain. During the last trimester and the first months of life, the cognitive capabilities related to emotion recognition and language…

This study investigated neural activation patterns during verb processing in children, using fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging). Preschool children (aged 4-6) passively listened to lists of verbs and adjectives while neural activation was measured. Findings indicated that verbs were processed differently than adjectives, as the verbs…

The aim of the study was to examine whether auditory binaural interaction, defined as any difference between binaurally evoked responses and the sum of monaurally evoked responses, which is thought to index functions involved in the localization and detection of signals in background noise, is atypical in a group of children with specific language…

It has long been recognized that from the first months of life auditory perception plays a crucial role in speech and language development. Only in recent years, however, is the precise mechanism of auditory development and its interaction with the acquisition of speech and language beginning to be systematically revealed. This paper presents the…

"The Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies, Language, and Education, Volume 2," is an updated edition of the landmark original volume. A range of international experts present a comprehensive overview of the field of deaf studies, language, and education. This area has grown dramatically over the past forty years. From work on the linguistics…