Infant-directed speech enhances language development
Extensive empirical literature, including meta-analyses and developmental studies, demonstrates that infant-directed speech enhances language development by improving speech segmentation, acoustic clarity, and neural processing.
The retrieved papers consistently support the claim that infant-directed speech (IDS) or child-directed speech (CDS) enhances language acquisition and processing. Multiple studies demonstrate that the acoustic modifications, hyperarticulation, and heightened prosody characteristic of IDS assist infants in word learning, speech sound discrimination, and neural tracking of native-language structures. No papers refute the claim.
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Anthony Alioto. Infant-directed speech facilitates lexical learning in adults hearing Chinese: implications for language acquisition. 1995. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305000900010011
Demonstrates that infant-directed speech (IDS) facilitates lexical learning and assists in segmenting the linguistic stream.
See more details
Irena Lovčević, D. Burnham, M. Kalashnikova. Language development in infants with hearing loss: Benefits of infant-directed speech.. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2022.101699
Reviews how infant-directed speech serves as an optimal linguistic environment to benefit language development in infants with hearing loss.
Yaara Endevelt-Shapira, A. Bosseler, T. Zhao, J. Mizrahi, A. Meltzoff, Patricia K. Kuhl, Ilanit Gordon, Sarah Boukarras. Heart-to-heart: infant heart rate at 3 months is linked to infant-directed speech, mother–infant interaction, and later language outcomes. 2024. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1380075
Finds that higher maternal IDS input and conversational turns are associated with infant attention and prospective language growth.
Irena Lovčević, Titia Benders, Sho Tsuji, Riccardo Fusaroli. Acoustic exaggeration of vowels in infant-directed speech: A multimethod meta-analytic review.. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000479
Confirms through a meta-analysis the presence of vowel hyperarticulation in IDS, which helps infants process clearer speech sounds.
Yu L, Ban L, Yi A, Xin J, Li S, Wang S, Mottron L. Acoustic Exaggeration Enhances Speech Discrimination in Young Autistic Children.. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.3301
Shows that acoustic and social exaggeration features of child-directed speech promote typical phonetic and language development.
Yu Zhang, Fei Chen, Feng Xu, Chengyu Guo, Kexuan Li. Acoustic characteristics of infant- and foreigner-directed speech with Mandarin as the target language.. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0026359
Establishes that acoustic enhancements in IDS (such as F0 and vowel duration) influence speech input quality and language acquisition efficiency.
Dvorakova M, Urbanec J, Kremlacek J, Chladkova K. Newborns’ neural tuning to the native language is revealed by infant-directed speech. 2026. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/t6dru_v3
Reveals that infant-directed speech enhances neural tracking and encoding of native-language rhythms in newborns, scaffolding early language acquisition.
The paper trail · every fact has a biography
Challenge the receipt
Citation formatting by citeproc-js (Frank Bennett) and the Citation Style Language project. Source and licenses.
Terms · Privacy · How verdicts work · Dispute this receipt