Creating environments that support children’s listening and communication - What can neuroscience tell us?
By Gemma Goldenberg and Prof. Sam Wass
At ISEY, a lot of our research focuses on how the physical environment affects children’s learning and development. One aspect of the environment which is often neglected in conversations about Early Years practice, is noise.
The equipment that we use at ISEY can measure noise levels in different settings, but also looks at other features like how predictable or complex the soundscape is. We are currently applying for funding to expand our work on noise, investigating how it affects children moment-by-moment and which interventions are most effective at reducing its negative effects.
This blog explains the neuroscience behind how noise affects children’s communication and what practitioners can do about it.
How do we hear and why is it harder for young children?
When you think about what sound is, it’s incredible that children learn to make sense of it at all. In early years settings, there are so many different sources that are emitting sound –someone talking, building blocks falling to the ground or a chair scraping on the floor. Each sound source creates a wave of air pressure that bounces around, reflects off surfaces in the room (such as walls and table tops) and intermingles with pressure waves coming from other sound sources. Eventually these waves reach our ears, where they make a little flap of skin called the eardrum vibrate. By the time they hit our eardrums these sound pressure waves are all mixed up and intermingled. To make sense of what they’re hearing, a child’s brain has to tease apart these intermingled pressure waves into separate sources of sound. It’s an incredibly hard job, when you think about it.
The process of filtering through all of these separate noises and focussing on the voice of the person who’s talking to is much more difficult for young children than it is for adults. Young children’s brains are generally less well set up for ‘tuning in’ to one thing and ‘tuning out’ distractions – our concentration abilities develop a lot as we get older. Studies show that toddlers and infants can struggle to even recognise their name when there’s other speech in the background (Newman, 2009).
What affects auditory processing?
There are several factors that impact how difficult or easy it is for children to hear and understand what is being said to them:
· The signal to noise ratio – This is the volume of the adult’s voice (or target for listening) compared to the volume of background noise. In general it’s advised that speech is 15-25dB louder than background noise (Shield and Dockrell. 2003). In primary schools in London, the average noise level is 72dB so the teacher will need to speak at a volume of at least 87dB to be heard clearly, almost as loud as a lawnmower! The younger a child is, the higher the signal to noise ratio should be. When the signal to noise ratio is too low, listening requires so much extra effort, that children have fewer cognitive resources for other tasks. This means their information processing speed can be affected (Howard et al, 2010), and so can their memory (Osman and Sullivan).
· How similar the ‘target’ for listening is, from the other background noises - It’s easier for the brain to separate out two things that have very different acoustics (such as a person talking and instrumental music) than two things that are similar (such as two people talking at once). This is why background chatter is more detrimental to learning than background instrumental music.
· The physical properties of the environment - In an echoey space, sound can bounce around multiple surfaces before it reaches the ears and each time the sound bounces, it gets altered slightly. Different noises become more intermingled when they’ve been bouncing around the room together for longer, making it harder to pick out the speech. This is why countless studies show that, as well as the overall volume, how echoey spaces are also affects children’s ability to understand speech (Manlove et al, 2001).
· Children’s existing knowledge – Children who already have a good understanding of what’s being spoken about, and have strong language skills can make better predictions about which word will come next. This means that even if they can’t hear every word perfectly, they can ‘fill in the gaps’ themselves. This is why children who are second language learners, and those with existing learning difficulties tend to suffer most in poor acoustic environments (Bhang et al, 2018; Klatte et al, 2013).
Noise Research
A study of pre-school children (Maxwell and Evans, 1999) found that noisy environments might prevent children from properly listening to other people’s speech, which in turn affects their own language acquisition and later in life, their reading development. The pre-reading and language skills of 3-5 year olds were tested before and after sound absorbent panels had been installed at childcare centre with poor acoustics. In the quieter condition, children performed significantly better on letter and word recognition, and were more likely to speak in complete sentences. This is supported by findings from an experimental study which found that children who learnt new words in an environment with a higher signal-to-noise ratio, produced the words more accurately than children who learnt them in a lower signal-to-noise environment (Riley and McGregor, 2012).
What can we do about it?
It wouldn’t be realistic (or desirable!) to expect children to tiptoe and whisper all day long in order to create quieter conditions. Luckily, there are steps you can take to support children’s auditory processing and comprehension even in noisy environments
Tips for supporting children’s listening, communication and comprehension
· Reduce reverberation (how much the sounds bounce off different surfaces) by introducing soft furnishings, fabrics on walls and pyramid foam underneath table tops
· Reduce unwanted background noise by adding pads underneath chair legs and to slamming doors.
· Use visual aids such as actions and gestures when talking and pictures to support instructions and new language
· Make an effort to enunciate clearly and exaggerate mouth movements – studies show that clear speech can aid children’s vocabulary growth, even in noisy environments (Riley and McGregor, 2012).
· Create quiet spaces where children can communicate more easily – areas sectioned off by screens, tents and teepees etc
· Reduce ‘background talk’ which is the most detrimental to understanding speech – come to agreements with other staff e.g. no chatting between staff during story time and phonics activities
· Utilise outdoor spaces – there are no ceilings and walls for sounds to bounce off when outdoors, and our own research shows that overall noise levels tend to be lower during outdoor learning which may make listening easier and encourage children to communicate more freely
· Discuss noise levels with staff and children – when is it noisiest? How does it affect us? When is it most important to keep noise levels low? Using visual indicators of noise can be helping in raising awareness, there are several free online tools that display dB levels (search for ‘free noise meter for children’) as well as devices to purchase but some people also make paper based displays. Try searching for ‘noise level display’ online for a range of options.
Are you interested in noise levels at your setting? Did you know that we can work with schools and nurseries to support them to carry out their own action research on noise? We also offer training on the impact of noise and how to tackle this. Check out our training and consultancy page here
References
Bhang, S. Y., Yoon, J., Sung, J., Yoo, C., Sim, C., Lee, C., ... & Lee, J. (2018). Comparing attention and cognitive function in school children across noise conditions: A quasi-experimental study. Psychiatry Investigation, 15(6), 620.
Howard, C. S., Munro, K. J., & Plack, C. J. (2010). Listening effort at signal-to-noise ratios that are typical of the school classroom. International journal of audiology, 49(12), 928-932.
Klatte, M., Bergström, K., & Lachmann, T. (2013). Does noise affect learning? A short review on noise effects on cognitive performance in children. Frontiers in psychology, 4, 578.
Manlove, E. E., Frank, T., & Vernon-Feagans, L. (2001, February). Why should we care about noise in classrooms and child care settings?. In Child and youth care forum (Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 55-64). Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers.
Maxwell, L.E., & Evans, G. (1999). The effects on pre-school children’s pre-reading skills. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 20, 91 – 97.
Newman, R. S. (2009). Infants’ listening in multitalker environments: Effect of the number of background talkers. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 71(4), 822-836.
Osman, H., & Sullivan, J. R. (2014). Children's auditory working memory performance in degraded listening conditions. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 57(4), 1503-1511.
Riley, K. G., & McGregor, K. K. (2012). Noise hampers children's expressive word learning. Language, speech, and hearing services in schools, 43(3), 325–337. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2012/11-0053)
Shield, B. M., & Dockrell, J. E. (2003). The effects of noise on children at school: A review. Building Acoustics, 10(2), 97-116.s. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 115(2), 730-738.
Speak out! Why speech and communication should be at the heart of our work with young children
Written by Dr Gemma Goldenberg
Why are communication skills so important?
Speech and language skills are crucial for overall development as they form a vital building block for later literacy skills. In 1970, educationalist James Britton said ‘Reading and writing float on a sea of talk’, asserting that ‘if you can’t say it, you can’t write it.’
But communication isn’t only important for later success with reading and writing, it also underpins children’s wellbeing and social-emotional development. Good communication enables children to express their needs and feelings, share thoughts and ideas and build relationships.
ISEY’s Research
At ISEY, we use wearable equipment, including head mounted cameras and microphones, to capture children’s interactions and communication.
We have recently started to explore using machine learning analyses and speech transcription to track the frequency and complexity of children’s vocalisations, how noisy the setting is, and the clarity of the speech the children hear and produce. This technology will enable us to learn more than ever before about children’s speech and language development and how it is influenced by the physical and social environment.
We are excited to see how these methods will enhance our future projects, and given the current speech and language crisis, there has never been a better time to expand this area of research.
A speech and language crisis – key statistics
According to the ‘Listening to unheard children’ report (2023):
· 1 in 5 children currently struggle with talking and/or understanding words (This is 1.9 million children - the highest number ever recorded)
· These children are 6 times more likely to be behind in English and 11 times more likely to be behind in maths when they’re aged 11
· Children who struggle with speech and language are twice as likely to be unemployed as an adult
· Despite this, the majority of teachers report that speech and language isn’t prioritised by the Department for Education, Ofsted or the national government and 78% believe parents don’t know about the importance of talking for their child’s wellbeing and learning
Communication skills don’t ‘just happen’
Communication and language skills depend on interactions with others and need to be actively planned for and encouraged. Children rely on adults who can support their language development.
One of the most fundamental interactions that shapes brain architecture in young infants is known as ‘serve and return’. This is where an infant communicates by babbling, crying or gesturing and the adult is sensitive to this ‘bid’ for communication and responds appropriately (e.g. with words, physical affection or eye contact). This ‘serve and return’ where caregivers are responsive to children’s signals builds networks in the child’s brain which support the later development of communication. When children’s signals are ignored in early life, and interactions are not able to ‘bounce back and forth’ children’s development and wellbeing is negatively affected.
Rebecca Skinner, a specialist speech and language therapist and Becky Poulter Jewson, a play and communication specialist, co-founded Thriving Language, which supports educators, parents and their children through speech therapy, training and creating books and podcasts about developing language and communication. Skinner and Poulter-Jewson explain “Children need a responsive communication partner who listens and offers time, space and pace for communication to develop.”
Time, space and pace
(Skinner and Poulter Jewson)
· Time- Allow the child time to initiate an interaction, time to express themselves and time to be heard.
· Space- Give space for the child to play in a way that’s meaningful to them, allow them to create and follow their own ideas.
· Pace – Allow time for natural conversation, look for cues to be invited into play, add provocation and show interest without taking over
Supporting communication through connection and play
Skinner and Poulter Jewson believe it’s vital to make and nurture connections to understand children and and their patterns of play and motivators. They explain, “We focus on relationships before we launch into specific language targets, understanding what matters to children enables us to join them in ‘their world’ rather than pushing for them to fit into ours.”
Joining children’s play and allowing them to lead offers a low stress environment with opportunities to model language, build vocabulary and practice communication skills.
Language-supportive environments
The environment where children play and learn can also affect children’s communication. Studies show that noisy environments can impair young children’s ability to hear and understand speech, which has a knock-on effect on their language development. Busy, over-stimulating environments might also increase stress and overwhelm, making children less likely to communicate.
Dr Tanya Richardson, a senior lecturer in Early Childhood studies, has conducted multiple research studies into how the environment affects young children’s speech and language development. Her research showed that children’s quality of speech and language was higher outdoors than it was in an indoor setting. Her study concluded that both high quality interactions and high quality environments are important for speech and language development. Factors listed as indicative of a high quality environment included: quiet areas, free-flow opportunities, access to the outdoors and space.
Practical strategies
The ‘Early language development in nature’ project outlines many helpful strategies for stimulating language, some of which are summarised below:
· Adopt a language-supportive attitude (move down to the child’s eye level, pay full attention, use positive facial expressions and radiate the joy of communication)
· Follow the child’s lead (focus on the child’s interests and let them be in charge of the conversation)
· Confirm, repeat and expand the child’s utterances (acknowledge what children say by responding with ‘Oh’ ‘Yes’ ‘Exactly’, then add a manageable amount of further information. If a child says ‘cat’ you could respond with ‘Yes, a black cat’.
· Correctly repeat children’s utterances instead of explicitly pointing out errors (Repeat what children have said using the correct pronunciation and grammar and repeat incomplete sentences completely. If a child points and asks for ‘dink’ reply with ‘Here’s your drink’ and pass it to them. If a child says ‘I catched the ball!’ reply with ‘Yes, you caught the ball!’
· Name and repeat unknown words frequently (Words need to be heard 60-80 times and experienced in different contexts before they can be actively used)
· Use questions carefully and resist asking too many (Use open-ended questions and prompts for children who are eager to speak ‘Tell me about…’ ‘Why do you think?’ and use alternative questions for less secure speakers so that they can respond using just one word ‘Would you like an apple or an orange?’ ‘Was that scary or fun?’
A full booklet of strategies can be accessed freely online here
Valuing all communication
Skinner and Poulter Jewson point out that early years practitioners have a duty of care to respond to all types of communication, not just speech. They believe “to be listened to, is to be loved” – asserting that it’s vital to create environments where all children are understood, no matter how they’re communicating. This means valuing non-verbal signals too, such as gestures, signing, and using symbols. These should be interpreted and responded to as attempts at communication. Following a child’s gaze, noticing and commenting on what they’re looking at, is a way of engaging in child-led communication without forcing a child to talk.
Finding out more
Online resources:
· Early Language development in nature – practical handbook
· https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/serve-and-return/
· https://speechandlanguage.org.uk/
Books and reports:
· Listening to unheard children
· Speech and Language in the Early Years, Creating Language-Rich Learning Environments, Routledge 2022
· Speech, Language and Communication for Healthy Little Minds, Routledge 2023
How can I take action on distraction? - A neuroscientist’s guide to focus and attention in the early years and primary school
By Dr Gemma Goldenberg and Prof. Sam Wass
Has a child ever asked you a question that you’ve just explained 2 minutes ago? Or do they seem to ignore you when you give instructions? Do children sit staring blankly at you without seeming to take anything in, or constantly fidget and flit from one activity to another without really engaging and persisting at anything? If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. Teachers increasingly tell us that they are really struggling to capture and maintain children’s attention, and that it’s both exhausting and frustrating.
We are proposing a new way of thinking about attention struggles and offering practical advice on how to tackle them in the classroom.
Can attention be trained?
Psychologists and neuroscientists used to think of concentration like a ‘mental muscle’, and carried out tests with children in a laboratory to assess how strong this ‘mental muscle’ is, comparing scores to decide what was ‘normal attention’ and what wasn’t. If a child struggled, we thought their attention could be improved with training, aimed at strengthening this ‘mental muscle’. But we now know, from lots of more recent research (Sala & Gobet, 2019; 2023), that this approach to understanding and improving childrens’ concentration doesn’t really work.
Instead, we now realise that concentration is context-specific - children can be good at concentrating on some things but not others, and good at concentrating in some settings but not others (Wass et al., 2024). Paying attention to a computer program in a lab is nothing like paying attention in ‘real life’ situations, so the results of computerised tests don’t transfer well to the classroom. We also realise now that children’s ability to pay attention isn’t just about the strength of a ‘mental muscle’ in their brains - but, instead, it depends on a range of factors such as how stressed the child is, how noisy the environment is, what the activity is - how much they enjoy it and how difficult it is, and so on.
Rethinking attention
The good news is that recent research has revealed a lot of new information about what’s happening in the brain when children pay attention, and what helps and hinders them. We want to encourage a new way of thinking about attention –instead of seeing it as a ‘pure’, cognitive process that only takes place inside the brain, instead let’s think about the whole child, in your setting – their emotions, interests and motivations, their levels of arousal, and even the physical features of the learning environment around them. We know that all of these things have a knock-on effect on how well children can concentrate. If we understand this, we can make small adjustments to support children’s attention, creating a more inclusive learning environment.
Below are 3 tips for promoting focus and attention in the classroom.
Practical tips
1) Think about visual clutter
Did you know that the amount of visual information in your classroom (display boards, posters, resources etc) takes brain resources to process? For young children especially, this can lead to distraction. Studies have shown that too much decoration on the walls leads to off task behaviour and lower learning outcomes (Fisher, 2014; Rodrigues & Pandeirada, 2018). One study found this to be particularly true for autistic children (Hanley et al, 2017), another found that if displays cover more than 25% of wall space, children are more likely to be off task (Godwin et al, 2022).
Sit where your students do when they are looking at you, what’s behind you? How can this area be streamlined to maximise focus on you instead?
2) Reduce background noise levels
Just because you can hear someone’s voice clearly in your classroom doesn’t mean that your students can. We are not born with the ability to tune out background noise and tune into one ‘target’ voice. This skill doesn’t fully develop until children are around 13-14 years old (Vander Ghinst et al, 2019). The younger children are, the quieter they need conditions to be in order to hear speech clearly. When it seems like a child isn’t paying attention to what you’re saying, often they just can’t hear properly.
Introduce more soft materials and furnishings to reduce reverberation (echo) which makes it harder for children to hear speech. Schedule talk-based activities for quieter times, and make an effort to speak with clarity, exaggerating mouth movements, which has been shown to aid comprehension even in noisy settings.
3) Find out more about levels of arousal and how these affect attention
Children’s level of arousal (how stimulated they are) affects how well they can concentrate. When children are over- or under-stimulated it is harder for them to pay attention. Signs of under-arousal include daydreaming, being floppy and seeming disinterested. Over-arousal can look like hyper-vigilance, overwhelm or over excitement. Children are often quite good at self-regulating their own levels of arousal but this can be misinterpreted as disruptive or annoying behaviour. For example, an under-aroused child may fidget, tap, hum or chew to upregulate their arousal and help them focus. An over-aroused child may cover their eyes or ears, disengage in conversation or group work or climb under a table to reduce their levels of arousal, to help them focus..
Observe children’s behaviour during times when attention is poor. Does it seem as if they are seeking more or less stimulation? Can you allow children to move around more, take breaks or seek out more or less stimulating areas/activities to support self regulation?
If you’d like to know more, check out our book ‘Take Action on Distraction’
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/take-action-on-distraction-9781801995573/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Take-Action-Distraction-Professor-Wass/dp/1801995583
Fisher, A. V., Godwin, K. E., & Seltman, H. (2014). Visual Environment, Attention Allocation, and Learning in Young Children: When Too Much of a Good Thing May Be Bad. Psychological Science, 25(7), 1362–1370. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614533801
Hanley, M., Khairat, M., Taylor, K., Wilson, R., Cole-Fletcher, R., & Riby, D. M. (2017). Classroom displays-Attraction or distraction? Evidence of impact on attention and learning from children with and without autism. Developmental Psychology, 53(7), 1265–1275. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000271
Rodrigues, P. F. S., & Pandeirada, J. N. S. (2018). When visual stimulation of the surrounding environment affects children’s cognitive performance. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 176, 140–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2018.07.014
Sala, G., & Gobet, F. (2019). Cognitive training does not enhance general cognition. Trends in cognitive sciences, 23(1), 9-20.
Gobet, F., & Sala, G. (2023). Cognitive training: A field in search of a phenomenon. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 18(1), 125-141.
Vander Ghinst, M., Bourguignon, M., Niesen, M., Wens, V., Hassid, S., Choufani, G., ... & De Tiège, X. (2019). Cortical tracking of speech-in-noise develops from childhood to adulthood. Journal of Neuroscience, 39(15), 2938-2950.
Wass, S. V., Amadó, M. P., Northrop, T., Haresign, I. M., & Phillips, E. A. M. (2024). Foraging and inertia: understanding the developmental dynamics of overt visual attention. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 105991.
