Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 3:4 1998
© 1998 Oxford University Press
A Comparison of the Vocal Patterns of Deaf and Hearing Mother-Infant Dyads during Face-to-Face Interactions
University of Montana
This study was part of a longitudinal investigation of the impact of deafness on the cognitive, social, and communicative development of infants. The current study reports analyses of the vocalizations of deaf and hearing infants and their Deaf or hearing mothers during normal face-to-face interactions when the infants were 9 months old. Results indicate essentially no differences in the amount of positive or negative vo calizations emitted by infants in any of the four groups ob served. However, there is a heightened use of vocal games by hearing mothers interacting with deaf infants, indicating that these mothers are incorporating several additional sensory modalities into their vocal expressions. This is interpreted as one way in which parents make their vocal communication more salient and accessible to an infant with a hearing loss. Deaf mothers are also highly active and engaged with their infants, but have been found to rely more extensively on vigorous tactile contact rather than auditory input during these same interactions.
Andrea M. Karkowski is now at Dcnison University. Portions of this paper have been presented at the annual meetings of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (Amsterdam, July 1994) and the American Psychological Association (New York, August, 1995). This research was supported by grants awarded by the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health and Resources Development, DHHS (Grant MCJ-110563, K. P. Meadow-Orlans, P-I); the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (Grant Ho23C 10077, D. F. Moores, P-I); the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation (Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Grant No. 12-FY94-0686, L. S. Koester, P-I); and the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, Bonn, Germany. Colleagues who contributed valuable advice, assistance, and support include Drs. Carol Erting, Robert MacTurk, Kathryn Meadow-Orlans, HanuJ Papousek, Mechthild Pa-pousek, Sybil Smith-Gray, and Patricia Spencer. The technical assistance and support services of Barbara Gleicher, Natalie Grindstaff, Chapman Horn, Gwendolyn Horton, Karen Kautz, Arlene B. Kelly, Carlene Thu-mann-Prezioso, Linda Stamper and Victoria Trimm are greatly appreciated. We also wish to thank the infants and mothers for their enthusiastic participation, the students who assisted with coding, and the off-site personnel involved in recruitment and data collection.
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