A Comparison of the Vocal Patterns of Deaf and Hearing Mother-Infant Dyads during Face-to-Face Interactions

Abstract

This study was part of a longitudinal investigation of the impact of deafness on the cognitive, social, and communicative development of infants. The current study reports analyses of the vocalizations of deaf and hearing infants and their Deaf or hearing mothers during normal face-to-face interactions when the infants were 9 months old. Results indicate essentially no differences in the amount of positive or negative vocalizations emitted by infants in any of the four groups observed. However, there is a heightened use of vocal games by hearing mothers interacting with deaf infants, indicating that these mothers are incorporating several additional sensory modalities into their vocal expressions. This is interpreted as one way in which parents make their vocal communication more salient and accessible to an infant with a hearing loss. Deaf mothers are also highly active and engaged with their infants, but have been found to rely more extensively on vigorous tactile contact rather than auditory input during these same interactions.