High-Frequency Pure Tone Listening Predicts Infants' Selective Attention to Ecological Bird Sounds [post]

Chris Lange-Küttner
2022 unpublished
Previous research showed that infants in their first year listened longer to bird sounds (seagulls) than to songbirds, while this was the reverse in adults. This preferential listening occurred independently of infants living at the seaside, or inland, but increased categorization occurred in infants in the Scottish harbor town. The preference was explained with the auditory features of the sounds of these two bird types. While sounds of seagulls are repetitive and low frequency, songs of
more » ... birds are melodious and high frequency. A subsample was also tested for listening times of pure tones (800 Hz, 1600 Hz, 2500 Hz, 5000 Hz). It is tested here whether listening times to high-frequency pure tones predict listening to the high-frequency songs of garden birds. Random sample of 20 infants in the first year of life consisting of two age groups at 4-7 and 9-11 months and a bootstrap sample of 1000 participants were tested. Nine- to 11-months-old infants listened less to pure tones the higher the frequency, especially to pure tones at 5000 Hz. Listening times to 5000 HZ pure tones were significantly correlated and predicted listening times to bird sounds, both in the real and the simulated data. The results indicated that increasing aversive sensitivity of infants towards high-frequency pure tones at 5000 HZ in the first year of life predicted listening to wildlife bird sounds, bridging the gap between artificially produced and ecologically valid sounds.
doi:10.31234/osf.io/mgszf fatcat:3cdbbp7ufjgavkvdzz26wuga64