About Us

At the Music Development Lab, our research focuses on the development of listening skills in infants and young children for both speech and music. Some of our research involves examining the similarities and differences in the nature of talking and singing across languages and cultures and the effect of infant directed versus adult directed speech on infant listeners. In recent years, our interests have led to research in the development of speech and musical perception in individuals with cochlear implants. Current research focuses on the effect of maternal singing on infants, infants' preferences for consonant and dissonant music and looking at the development of informal musical performances of children.