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ERIC Number: EJ1487519
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Nov
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1363-755X
EISSN: EISSN-1467-7687
Available Date: 2025-10-13
Applying an Automatic Classifier for Child-Directed Speech to Intervention Research: A Reanalysis
Naja Ferjan Ramírez1,2; Aeddan Claflin1
Developmental Science, v28 n6 e70079 2025
Parental language input is a key predictor of child language achievement. Parentese is a widely used style of child-directed speech (CDS) distinguished by a higher pitch and larger pitch range. A recent parent coaching randomized control trial (Parentese-RCT) demonstrated that English-speaking US parents who were coached to use parentese with their 6- to 18-month-olds increased the frequency of its use; their children showed enhanced language outcomes at 18 months. While these results are exciting, a roadblock in scaling this intervention is the fact that parentese has to be manually identified from daylong LENA recordings. Here we demonstrate that a newly developed CDS classifier captures the effect of this Parentese-RCT "without human annotation," through a new variable: Proportion of CDS relative to all adult speech (CDS-Proportion). Two daylong recordings per child (N = 70) per timepoint (child age: 6, 10, 14, and 18 months) from the Parentese-RCT were re-analyzed by removing periods of sleep and estimating CDS-Proportion through the classifier. As was the case for parentese in the Parentese-RCT, CDS-Proportion was significantly enhanced in the intervention group. Moreover, the change over time in CDS-Proportion was significantly and positively correlated with infants' word use at 18 months. We emphasize that the classifier does not "recognize parentese." Likewise, CDS-Proportion is "not" a proxy for parentese, but rather, a variable related to parentese in complex ways. The present findings suggest a promising future for scalability of interventions using daylong recordings in combination with novel technologies.
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www-wiley-com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Department of Linguistics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA; 2Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA