Can a Newborn’s Brain Discriminate Speech Sounds?
Summary: It’s a question most new parents ponder, can a newborn baby discriminate between speech sounds? Researchers found newborn babies encode voice pitch comparable to adults exposed to a new language for three years. However, there are some differences when it comes to distinguishing between spectral and temporal fine structures of certain sounds.
Source: University of Barcelona
People’s ability to perceive speech sounds has been deeply studied, specifically during someone’s first year of life. But what happens during the first hours after birth? Are babies born with innate abilities to perceive speech sounds, or do neural encoding processes need to age for some time?
