Hostname: page-component-7b9c58cd5d-wdhn8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-03-13T23:41:57.122Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Accuracy of the Language Environment Analyses (LENATM) system for estimating child and adult speech in laboratory settings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2020

Virginia A. MARCHMAN Open the ORCID record for Virginia A. MARCHMAN [Opens in a new window] ,
Adriana WEISLEDER ,
Nereyda HURTADO  and
Anne FERNALD
Virginia A. MARCHMAN*
Affiliation:
Stanford University, USA
Adriana WEISLEDER
Affiliation:
Northwestern University, USA
Nereyda HURTADO
Affiliation:
Grail Family Services, USA
Anne FERNALD
Affiliation:
Stanford University, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Virginia A. Marchman, Department of Psychology, 450 Jane Stanford Way, Building 420, Stanford, CA94305. E-mail:[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Laboratory observations are a mainstay of language development research, but transcription is costly. We test whether speech recognition technology originally designed for day-long contexts can be usefully applied to this use-case. We compared automated adult word and child vocalization counts from Language Environment Analysis (LENATM) to those of transcribers in 20-minute play sessions with Spanish-speaking dyads (n = 104) at 1;7 and 2;2. For adult words, results indicated moderate associations but large absolute differences. Associations for child vocalizations were weaker with larger absolute discrepancies. LENA has moderate potential to ease the burden of transcription in some research and clinical applications.

Type
Brief Research Report
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 48 , Issue 3 , May 2021 , pp. 605 - 620
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bergelson, E., Casillas, M., Soderstrom, M., Seidl, A., Warlaumont, A. S., & Amatuni, A. (2019). What do North American babies hear? Developmental Science, 22 :e12724, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12724CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bornstein, M. H., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Hahn, C.-S., & Haynes, O. M. (2008). Maternal responsiveness to young children at three ages: longitudinal analysis of a multidimensional, modular, and specific parenting construct. Developmental Psychology, 44(3), 867–874. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.44.3.867CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, R. (1973). A first language: The early stages. Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Busch, T., Sangen, A., Vanpoucke, F., & van Wieringen, A. (2018). Correlation and agreement between Language ENvironment Analysis (LenaTM) and manual transcription for Dutch natural language recordings. Behavior Research Methods, 50(5). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-017-0960-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canault, M., Le Normand, M. T., Foudil, S., Loundon, N., & Thai-Van, H. (2016). Reliability of the Language ENvironment Analysis system (LENATM) in European French. Behavior Research Methods, 48(3), 1109–1124. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-015-0634-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, H. K., & Washington, J. A. (2000). An assessment battery for identifying language impairment in African American children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 43(2), 366–379.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cristia, A., Bulgarelli, F., & Bergelson, E. (2020). Accuracy of the Language Environment analysis (LENA) system segmentation and metrics: A systematic review. https://doi.org/https://osf.io/4nhms/Google Scholar
Cristia, A., Lavechin, M., Scaff, C., Soderstrom, M., Rowland, C., Rasanen, O., Bunce, J., & Bergelson, E. (2019). A thorough evaluation of the Language Environment Analysis (LENA) system. https://doi.org/https://osf.io/4nhms/Google Scholar
D'Apice, K., Latham, R. M., & von Stumm, S. (2019). A naturalistic home observational approach to preschoolers’ language, cognition, and behavior. Developmental Psychology. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dev0000733CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darwin, C. (1877). A bibliographical sketch of an infant. Mind, 2, 285–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dromi, E. (1987). Early lexical development. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ganek, H. V., & Eriks-Brophy, A. (2018). Language ENvironment analysis (LENA) system investigation of day long recordings in children: A literature review. Journal of Communication Disorders, 72, 77–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2017.12.005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ganek, H. V., Smyth, R., Nixon, S., & Eriks-Brophy, A. (2018). Using the Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) system to investigate cultural differences in conversational turn count. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 61(9), 2246–2258. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_jslhr-l-17-0370CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gilkerson, J., Richards, J. A., Warren, S. F., Montgomery, J. K., Greenwood, C. R., Oller, K., Hansen, J. H. L., & Paul, T. D. (2017). Mapping the early language environment using all-day recordings and automated analysis. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 26(2), 248–265. https://doi.org/10.1044/2016_AJSLP-15-0169CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gilkerson, J., Richards, J. A., Warren, S. F., Oller, K., Russo, R., & Vohr, B. R. (2018). Language experience in the second year of life and language outcomes in late childhood. Pediatrics, 142(4), e20174276. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2017-4276CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenwood, C. R., Schnitz, A. G., Irvin, D., Tsai, S. F., & Carta, J. J. (2018). Automated language environment analysis: A research synthesis. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 1–15.Google ScholarPubMed
Greenwood, C. R., Thiemann-Bourque, K., Walker, D., Buzhardt, J., & Gilkerson, J. (2011). Assessing children's home language environments using automatic speech recognition technology. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 32(2), 83–92. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525740110367826CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1995). Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children. Brookes Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Hirsh-Pasek, K., Adamson, L. B., Bakeman, R., Owen, M. T., Golinkoff, R. M., Pace, A., Yust, P. K. S., & Suma, K. (2015). The contribution of early communication quality to low-income children's language success. Psychological Science, 26(7), 1071–1083. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615581493CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoff, E. (2006). How social contexts support and shape language development. Developmental Review, 26(1), 55–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2005.11.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hollingshead, A. B. (1975). Four-Factor Index of Social Status. (unpublished manuscript; Yale University).Google Scholar
Hurtado, N., Marchman, V. A., & Fernald, A. (2008). Does input influence uptake? Links between maternal talk, processing speed and vocabulary size in Spanish-learning children. Developmental Science, 11(6), 31–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leopold, W. (1949). Speech Development of a Bilingual Child: A linguist's record. Northwestern University Press.Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B. (2000). The CHILDES Project: Tools for Analyzing Talk (3rd Editio). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Mervis, C. B., Mervis, C. A., Johnson, K. E., & Bertrand, J. (1992). Studying early lexical development: The value of the systematic diary method. Advances in Infancy Research, 7, 291–378.Google Scholar
Montag, J. L., Jones, M. N., & Smith, L. B. (2018). Quantity and diversity: Simulating early word learning environments. Cognitive Science, 1–38. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12592CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (1997). The effects of infant child care on infant-mother attachment security: Results of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care. Child Development, 68(5), 860–879.Google Scholar
Oetting, J. B., Hartfield, L. R., & Pruitt, S. L. (2009). Exploring LENA as a tool for researchers and clinicians. The ASHA Leader, 14(6), 20–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pae, S., Yoon, H., Seol, A., Gilkerson, J., Richards, J. A., Ma, L., & Topping, K. (2016). Effects of feedback on parent-child language with infants and toddlers in Korea. First Language, 36(6), 549–569. https://doi.org/10.1177/0142723716649273CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pan, B. A., Rowe, M. L., Singer, J. D., & Snow, C. E. (2005). Maternal correlates of growth in toddler vocabulary production in low-income families. Child Development, 76(4), 763–782. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00876.xGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ramírez-Esparza, N., Garcia-Sierra, A., & Kuhl, P. K. (2014). Look who's talking: Speech style and social context in language input to infants are linked to concurrent and future speech development. Developmental Science, 17(6), 880–891. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12172CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Räsänen, O., Seshadri, S., Karadayi, J., Riebling, E., Bunce, J., Cristia, A., Metze, F., Casillas, M., Rosemberg, C., Bergelson, E., & Soderstrom, M. (2019). Automatic word count estimation from daylong child-centered recordings in various language environments using language-independent syllabification of speech. Speech Communication, 113, 63–80. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.specom.2019.08.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richards, J. A., Gilkerson, J., Paul, T. D., & Xu, D. (2008). The LENA automatic vocalization assessment [Technical report no. LTR-08-01]. https://www.lenafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/LTR-08-1_Automatic_Vocalization_Assessment.pdfGoogle Scholar
Roggman, L. A., Cook, G. A., Innocenti, M. S., Norman, V. J., & Christiansen, K. (2013). Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO) in diverse ethnic groups. Infant Mental Health Journal, 34, 290–306. https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romeo, R. R., Leonard, J. A., Robinson, S. T., West, M. R., Mackey, A. P., Rowe, M. L., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2018). Beyond the 30 Million Word Gap: Children's conversational exposure is associated with language-related brain function. Psychological Science, 29(5), 700–710. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617742725CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Romeo, R. R., Segaran, J., Leonard, J. A., Robinson, S. T., West, M. R., Mackey, A. P., Yendiki, A., Rowe, M. L., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2018). Language exposure relates to structural neural connectivity in childhood. The Journal of Neuroscience, 38(36), 7870–7877. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0484-18.2018CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rowe, M. L. (2012). A longitudinal investigation of the role of quantity and quality of child-directed speech vocabulary development. Child Development, 83(5), 1762–1774. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01805.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Soderstrom, M., & Wittebolle, K. (2013). When do caregivers talk? The influences of activity and time of day on caregiver speech and child vocalizations in two childcare environments. PLoS ONE, 8(11). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0080646CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
VanDam, M. (2014). Acoustic characteristics of the clothes used for a wearable recording device. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 136(4), EL263–EL267. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4895015CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, Y., Hartman, M., Aziz, N. A. A., Arora, S., Shi, L., & Tunison, E. (2017). A systematic review of the LENA technology. American Annals of the Deaf, 162(3), 295–311.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weisleder, A., & Fernald, A. (2013). Talking to children matters: Early language experience strengthens processing and builds vocabulary. Psychological Science, 24, 2143–2152. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613488145CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Woodard, J. C., Losievski, N., Arjmandi, M. K., Lehet, M., Wang, Y., Houston, D. M., & Dilley, L. C. (2019). Accuracy of the language environment analysis (LENA) speech processing system for detecting communicative vocalizations of young children. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 146(4), 2956. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.5137267CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, D., Yapanel, U., & Gray, S. (2009). Reliability of the LENATM language environment analysis system in young children's natural home environment. Boulder, CO: LENA Foundation., February, 1–16. https://doi.org/xuGoogle Scholar
Ziaei, A., Sangwan, A., & Hansen, J. H. L. (2016). Effective word count estimation for long duration daily naturalistic audio recordings. Speech Communication, 84, 15–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.specom.2016.07.007CrossRefGoogle Scholar