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Infant Observation

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Research with infants and hearing has determined that infants are primed to hear human speech and will attune to those sounds rather than others. This can be identified as a biological imperative in order to assure they are cared for by adults. This manner of behavior may not be consistent if there are other sounds that are louder and above the threshold of human language. This researcher hypothesizes that if an infant is presented with two sounds, one of a person saying their name at a low volume and the other a dog barking at a higher volume, the infant will respond and attune to the louder sound. This attunement is due to safety and possibly a startle reflex to protect themselves rather than a drive to learn and respond to human speech. …show more content…

Specifically, the infant will be presented with their name being repeated in a low volume and a dog barking in a high volume. The volume for either sound will not change and will be presented for 2 minutes. The dependent variable will be the infant’s response to the sounds-do they attune to the sound; is there habituation. The subjects will be infants between the ages of 6 months and 12 months. There will be 50 infants and there will not be any limitations based on gender. The researcher will rule out any infants that are sick in order assure that illness does not impair hearing such as a cold or any other hearing related disorders. The subjects will be gathered from 3 local pediatricians’ offices through the presentation of a questionnaire regarding information of age, identification of typical hearing abilities, identification of being healthy and interest in participating in the …show more content…

The infant may not be awake at the time of the experiment or it could be during a nap time. Another variable could be infant discomfort based on needing to eat, change a diaper or other illness induced difficulties which cannot be controlled for well. These concerns could be controlled with preparing the caregiver to assure these needs are met prior to the study. Lastly, the parents or caregivers present are an extraneous variable as if they make sounds or have a response to the sounds presented; this could and probably will impact the infant’s responses. Parents will be encouraged to assure that they do not respond in any way to what takes place hence the need for no deception in this

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