Hearing

Babies are born with fluid in their middle ear (behind the eardrum), so their hearing is not as sensitive as it will be in about 2 weeks when this fluid is absorbed. Nevertheless, they can tell the difference between loud and soft sounds and between short and long sound duration. The auditory feedback loop is already present and used by your newborn baby. The auditory feedback loop is the relationship between the ability of a baby to use sounds that she hears in order to control or monitor sounds that she produces. Experiments testing the auditory feedback loop examine a baby’s change in heart rate or breathing rate in response to presentation of the same or a different sound. Amazingly, within the first few days after birth, babies can tell the difference between sounds. Distinguishing specific sounds in words, however, comes later. But newborns are able to perceive a great deal right from birth.

The Baby Chronicles

For the last couple of years (okay for the last few years), Babs and I have been working on a newsletter about children's first year of life. We have a free sample of the newsletter that focuses on the first week of development. Future installments will be 8 pages long and available for a small fee. We'll focus on language, social interaction, brain and cognitive development, motor skills, vision and hearing month by month. We'll let you know as we start to post them to the site. Read the sample and let us know what you think.

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