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TV may delay infants' speech: study

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-02 14:53

WASHINGTONG -- Infants always exposed to audible television are more likely to suffer language delay and lag in brain development because they hear fewer words from parents and "talk" less, US researchers reported Monday.

"We've known that television exposure during infancy is associated with language delays and attentional problems, but so far it has remained unclear why," said the study's lead author Dimitri Christakis, a professor at the University of Washington.

"This study is the first to demonstrate that when the television is on, there is reduced speech in the home. Infants vocalize less and their caregivers also speak to them more infrequently."

The study, published in the journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, involved 329 children aged two months to four years old. All of them wore a business card-sized digital recorder on random days monthly for up to two years.

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The recorder captured everything the child said and heard during continuous 12-to-16-hour periods, and was removed only for naps, baths, nighttime sleep and car rides. The recording did not distinguish between foreground television and background television.

The study showed that for every hour in front of the television, parents spoke 770 fewer words to children. By contrast, adults typically utter approximately 941 words per hour. There were also significant reductions in child vocalizations.

Christakis said the findings have "grave implications for language acquisition and therefore perhaps even early brain development," since language development is thought to be a critical component of brain development in early childhood.

About 30 percent of American households now report having the television on all the time, even when no one is watching. The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended against allowing children under two years of age to watch television while urging more interactive play in its place.

"There is simply nothing better for early childhood language acquisition than the spoken and imitated words of caregivers, and every word counts," Christakis said.

"Television is not only a poor caregiver substitute, but it actually reduces the number of language sounds and words babies hear, vocalize and therefore learn," he said.

"We are increasingly technologizing infancy, which may prove harmful to the next generation of adults."