audio recorders/ recording babbling

Wed Oct 18 03:43:30 UTC 2000

Dear Stefanie and other Infochildes,

I was involved in a large infant babbling project
in the 80s and early 90s in Kim Oller and Rebecca
Eiler's lab when they were at the University
of Miami.  Well over 100 babbling infants were followed
longitudinally. (The number is probably much greater,
but I know personally about over 100.)   The decisions
about equipment were made a couple of generations ago
technologically, so I will not add to the very good
suggestions we have already heard here.

However, I want to add to Stefanie Brosda's comments
about recording in the home versus the lab.  In
Kim and Rebecca's projects, recording was done
in a soundproof booth at the lab.  The babbling studies
started at around 3 months of age. Children came to the
lab with their parents or caretakers once a month for 3
years, more often at certain times. (There's a generation
of toddlers out there pointing at the University of
Miami hospital complex as they drive by, saying "Debra,
Debra"--the name of the full-time family coordinator who
engendered this extraordinary loyalty.)

Ecological validity was a concern, so they addressed it
head-on.  Vanessa Lewedag did her Master's thesis comparing
infant output in home and lab settings.  I have put the
reference to the publication that resulted below (which
you can find indexed in PsychInfo, as I did).

Vanessa confirmed everyone's suspicion that the children
vocalized more at home than they did in the lab during
their "appointed 1/2 hour."  But they didn't demonstrate
any more mature behaviors at home than they did in the lab.
I don't remember all the details of the method or the
results, just that it encouraged Kim (and then Peter
Mundy who took over several of Kim's projects after Kim
left Miami) to continue with the sound proof booth,
with a mike on a boom.  Those of you embarking on
projects with this very tricky population might like
to consult Vanessa's article in _First Language_.

Lewedag, Vanessa L; Oller, D. Kimbrough; Lynch, Michael
P. Infants' vocalization patterns across home and
laboratory environments. [Journal Article] First Language.
Vol 14(40, Pt 1), 1994, 49-65.

Good luck, and congratulations on the perserverance that
you will surely have to have to do babbling studies!

Barbara

P.S. I'm reminded by how hard babbling studies are, but
how rarely laypeople perceive them as such of the wise
crack from my 14-year-old son when I got my first article
accepted in the Journal of Child Language.

"Gee, mom, Journal of Child Language.  That's great.
Do they print it in crayon?!"
|-)

At 10:15 AM 10/17/00 +0200, you wrote:
>
>hello all, and sorry for those who are not concerned/interested in this.
>
>i am currently recording babbling data and do confirm what brian wrote.
>
>the surrounding noise can be rendered VERY audibly on the recording even
>when in the situation you were hardly aware of it (due to some kind of
>perceptive
>filtering of ours). a computer in the room you're recording in should be
>shut down as it is rather imposing on the tape afterwards. refridgerators
>are a problem, too, if the child happens to be in the kitchen for daily
>routines, but its less disturbing then a computer's ventilator. (anyway,
>people generally are not prepared to switch off the fridge for you... :-)
>). more obvious things like washing machines and open windows have to be
>avoided, too. this may seem evident to us, but the parents of your
>babbling babies are not necessarily aware of this things until you tell
>them.
>
>personally, i used a DAT recorder in the beginning, then changed for a
>digital camcorder (CANON MV20i - afterwards i extract the audio track from
>the video files with adobe premiere). there has not been any quality
>change between the two devices. the mike i use is a PHILIPS SBC ME600
>very small clip mike, frequency range: 50 - 18 000 Hz, impedance: 1000
>om., sensitivity: -65 dB, 5 meter cord.
>depending of your funding, you might consider to use a cordless mike which
>i think significantly facilitates things as the cord intervenes with the
>child moving around, is used as a toy, being sucked on etc.
>as for the placement you'll need to find a compromise between having the
>mike as near to the child's mouth as possible but still out of touch and
>reach (which is in itself not possible...). i found that clippig it on the
>shoulder or a bit below works fine. be careful not to clip it to near to
>the face as the child will be moving around his/her head and be touching
>the mike with his/her cheeks. this completely plasters the child's output
>with noise. same for contact between the mike and clothing.
>
>
>>    Of course, there is always the sound-proof room approach, but then the
>> child may just decide that they don't like babbling in sound-proof rooms.
>> I wonder if babbling researchers have ever tried that approach.
>
>well, i did not. and i should not think it works.
>
>- unnatural surrounding for both the child AND the mother (if the mother's
>not as ease, the child won't be either)
>
>- no daily routines possible
>
>- at least "my" mothers/fathers would not have liked to have to come into
>the lab especially instead of me going to their homes
>
>- organisational problems: i found it sometimes difficult to find the
>right moment to record the children (what with naps, meals, naps again and
>other time constraints imposed by the child or the parents) which are not
>always fully forseeable. but in order to have the caregiver+child in the
>sound-proof room at the right moment when the child is good humoured,
>relaxed and in a chatting mood, you'd need considerable prediction
>capacities that are difficult to acquire...
>
>good luck and best wishes,
>
>stefanie brosda
>
>
>                /\/\  /\
>           /\  / /--\/  \  /\
>          /__\/ / /\/ /\ \/--\
>         /    \/ /  \/--\ \   \
>Stefanie BROSDA
>Institut de la Communication Parlee / INPG
>UPRESA CNRS No 5009
>46, Av. Felix Viallet
>38031 Grenoble Cedex 1
>FRANCE
>
>Tel: 	(+33) 4 76 57 48 27
>          --  - -- -- 45 41
>Fax:	(+33) 4 76 57 47 10
>E-mail:	brosda at icp.inpg.fr
>
>
>
>
******************************************
Barbara Zurer Pearson, Ph.D.
Project Manager, NIH Working Group on AAE

Department of Communication Disorders
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
117 Arnold House
Amherst MA 01003
413-545-5023
fax 545-0803

bpearson at comdis.umass.edu
http://www.umass.edu/aae/