Background noise may hinder toddlers’ ability to learn words
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The environments children are in, including how much and the kind of stimulation they are exposed to, influence what and how they learn. Children need to zero in on information that’s relevant and ignore what isn’t. A new study has found that background noise makes it more difficult for toddlers to learn new words. The study also found that providing additional language cues may help young children overcome the effects of noisy environments. Conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the research appears in the journal Child Development.
“Learning words is an important skill that provides a foundation for children academically,” says Brianna McMillan, a student in psychology who led the study. “Modern homes are filled with noisy distractions that could affect how children learn words. Adults should be aware of background noise in the environment when they interact.”
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In the study, 106 children aged 22 to 30 months took part in three experiments in which they were taught names for unfamiliar objects and tested on their ability to recognise the objects when they were labelled. The environments ranged from quiet to loud.
While louder background speech hindered toddlers’ ability to learn words, cues in the environment helped them overcome this difficulty. “Hearing new words in fluent speech without a lot of background noise before trying to learn what objects the new words correspond to may help very young children master new vocabulary,” suggests Jenny Saffran, professor of psychology at the university, who co-authored the study. “In a noisy environment, drawing their attention to the sounds of the new word may help them compensate.”
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