The babbling of babies helps them create and develop their speech gradually. Harriet Fell and Linda Ferrier, professors at Northeastern University conducted research on this subject.
This research included recording the babbling and cooing of babies. Their project named Baby Babble Blanket allowed babies to roll over the blankets and push- button attached to it. This would be beneficial for babies who had neurological and motor disorders. This activity enhanced their motor activities and taught them the cause-effect relation.
There is also a possibility in the field of medicine to detect the condition and health of the child in the sounds they make. Their speech has qualities that determine their biological characteristics. Similar to this is the research of neonatal crying which also indicates if the baby suffers from any neurotic disorders. These two very primary actions of the baby hold a lot of information regarding their physical and mental health.
To improve the quality of her research, Fell also designed a software program that analyses the sound and speech of babies. This design was also used for adults and especially in detecting fatigue in their speech. It was also used as an accent reduction tool.
This device can also be essential for detecting autism in babies. It explores a variety of speech- language structures in their early stages by observing the signs of the disorder. This device can also detect the speed at which adults respond to any voice. It has enlarged the scope of research and can be used to detect various neurotic disorders. Scientists can take initiatives to uses the design in order to detect such disorders and help in treating them for a better purpose.
Akshara Palshetkar