Global view on early speech development: Cross-linguistic and multi-level approaches – GLOBAL-SPEECH

From the periphery, up to the central nervous system, the human auditory pathway analysis the complex acoustic properties of speech sounds. Although these auditory structures are not mature till the end of adolescence, infants efficiently tuned to the sounds of their native language(s) during the first year of life and start to build their lexicon. This project aims to unveil the general auditory mechanisms involved in the early development of speech perception by using both behavioural and neurophysiological tools with infants. Moreover, by combining those tools with a multi-level approach, we will examine precisely the properties of the speech input that influence the specialization of these auditory mechanisms, i.e., domain-general mechanisms. First, a cross-linguistic comparison will examine the influence of exposure to different phonological systems, French versus Mandarin. Then, we will assess the effects of impaired hearing, auditory experience and quality of speech input on perceptual attunement of speech.