Development of the auditory system and speech perception in infants- BabySIN

Perceiving speech in noise is a challenge for adult listeners and even more so for young children and infants, yet noisy listening conditions represent a better estimate of real listening conditions. This ability requires complex processing, involving the extraction of sounds of interest from competing sounds (noise). The aim of the project is to highlight the importance of processing the different acoustic information of speech (in particular the sound envelope) in order to perceive speech in noise in infants.

Firstly, the cerebral processing of different acoustic variations in sounds is being studied in 3-month-old infants using the electroencephalography technique. To this end, the brain activity of infants will be measured when they listen to a non-language sound whose amplitude and frequency fluctuate over time. In addition, the ability of these infants to perceive speech in noise is measured using an observation technique. This enables us to determine whether the infants perceive a change in sound between 2 sounds by identifying their behavioural reactions to this change. The group of babies will be followed throughout their first year of life in order to gain a better understanding of the link between the development of the auditory system and the perception of speech in toddlers.

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