The effects of maternal depression on the ‘musicality’ of infant-directed speech and conversational engagement

Abstract

Abstract In this chapter, we look at the effect of the mental illness of depression on the ‘musicality’ of a mother’s voice as she talks with her young infant, and discuss the possible impact of this on the infant’s emotional and cognitive development. The term musicality has been used to capture fundamental characteristics of human vocal communication—the shared expressiveness in timing, phrasing, intonation and voice quality. All of these dimensions can be identified in the earliest caregiver–infant talk and play.We first summarize the characteristics of musicality—timing and expression—in human communication in general, and then consider its special place in the vocal expressiveness of adults talking to infants, and on the part of infants themselves. Finally, we review findings on the impact of depression on maternal expressiveness, their implications for how we should understand conversational engagements between depressed mothers and their infants, and the significance for diagnosis and therapy.