Babies' Ear for Thai: Infants from Korea and Japan Hear Differently

Did you know that even little babies can tell the difference between sounds from different languages? Scientists wanted to find out how babies from Korea and Japan hear sounds from Thai, a language they don't speak. They chose three special sounds from Thai that are called "stops. " These sounds are different based on how early the voice starts when you say them.Babies from Korea and Japan, who were just 4-6 months old, listened to these Thai sounds. The scientists used a special game to see if the babies could tell the sounds apart. They found that Korean babies were really good at telling two of the sounds apart, but not the other two. Japanese babies, on the other hand, were better at telling the other two sounds apart, but not the first two. This shows that even at a young age, babies start to hear sounds differently depending on the language they grow up with. This is something that scientists who study how we learn languages need to think more about.