Poster #35 - Associations among Socioeconomic Status, Noise Exposure, and Language Development in the First Year of Life

• In Event: Poster Session 12

Abstract

Lower family socioeconomic status (SES) has been associated with increased ambient noise levels in the home. Increased exposure to noisy environments may render it difficult for infants and young children to focus on and understand speech. In addition, increased environmental noise levels may mask the perceptual and auditory aspects of language that are integral to language learning, and, in turn, lead to reduced language skills in children, suggesting that increased noise exposure may be one mechanism linking SES to emerging language development. Indeed, prior work has found associations between increased noise exposure and language skills in school-age children. However, it is unclear how early this association might arise in development. For this study, we recruited parent-infant dyads across two studies, one of which is ongoing [Study 1 n = 62; Study 2 (ongoing) current n = 118] and examined family SES, home noise exposure levels and emerging language skills at 6-months of age. SES was measured using average parent education and family income-to-needs ratios. Average home noise levels were extracted from day-long LENA device recordings. In both studies, language development was measured via LENA-derived automatic vocalization assessment (AVA) scores, a standardized measure of expressive language development. In addition, Study 1 employed the Preschool Language Scale 5 (PLS-5), a direct assessment of infant language development, and Study 2 employed the LENA Snapshot, a parent-report measure of language development. Multiple regression analyses were run in order to examine relationships among SES, noise exposure, and language development. Analyses controlled for study, child sex, LENA recording time, and average parent education level when SES was not a variable of interest. Results showed that socioeconomic factors were not related to noise exposure or to measures of language development. In addition, greater noise levels in the home were not related to any measure of language. These results corroborate previous research suggesting that SES may not have observable associations with language development until after the first year of life, and further suggest that the other environmental factors such as early home noise exposure may follow similar patterns. Future work on this sample will examine the effects of early home noise exposure and SES longitudinally both on emerging language skills and the neurobiological underpinnings of language development.

Authors

• Katrina R Simon, Teachers college Columbia University
  Presenting Author

• Kimberly G Noble, Teachers College, Columbia University