Join our research on speech development in infants and children in our babylab. Our team is investigating language development in infants and children across various age groups. You can find the description of each experiment below. Would you like to participate in the research, but your baby’s age isn’t listed in the experiment descriptions? You can still sign up if your baby is younger or older. We will contact you as soon as a new experiment starts or when your child reaches the appropriate age. You can register using the registration form.
We are currently looking for expecting mothers and children aged 6-11 months | 12-14 months | 24-29 months | 5-6 years | and children with cochlear implants.
Would you like to learn more about our research and its results? Visit the website speakinlab.cz dedicated to our research group.
EXPECTING MOTHERS IN THE 28TH–38TH WEEK OF PREGNANCY
Are you an expecting mother who primarily speaks other languages than Czech and are you in the 28th–38th week of pregnancy? Or are you an expecting mother who primarily speaks Czech in the 28th–38th week of pregnancy? Join our research on speech development using EEG.
Previous research has shown that shortly after birth, babies are already tuned to human speech. We are exploring the role of exposure to spoken language before birth and how a mother’s speech before and after birth influences this speech tuning.
HOW THE EXPERIMENT WORKS
In the first part of the experiment, before the baby is born, you will visit our lab, where we will record a small portion of your speech (approximately 20 minutes).
After your baby is born and when it’s convenient for you, you will visit us again. We will record how you speak with your baby and measure how the baby perceives speech. During the experiment, the baby will lie comfortably in a crib and sleep. Using special headphones, a fairy tale in Czech and a foreign language will be played to the baby at a comfortable volume, and special sensors will measure how the baby’s brain perceives these stories (approximately 1–1.5 hours).
The entire experiment is completely safe and non-invasive for the baby. You can watch a report by Czech Television featuring members of SPEAKin Lab to see how a similar experiment is conducted in a maternity hospital.
As a reward for participating in this experiment, you will receive 1,500 CZK (a voucher for a purchase of your choice). Participation in both parts of the experiment—before the baby is born and afterward with the baby—is required.
HOW TO SIGN UP
You can sign up using the REGISTRATION FORM or by emailing martina.dvorakova@ff.cuni.cz or babylab@ff.cuni.cz.
6-11 MONTHS
Is your baby 6–11 months old and bilingual? Join our research on speech perception using behavioral methods.
In this project, we are studying how Czech children learn to recognize the form of words and the boundaries between words in continuous speech, as well as how they differentiate familiar language patterns from those they have not encountered before. You can watch this video to see what baby speech research looks like. A report from Czech Radio about the experiment can be found here. As a reward for participating in this experiment, you will receive 300 CZK (a voucher for Rossmann drugstore).
HOW THE EXPERIMENT WORKS
The parent sits with the baby on their lap in a soundproof booth, where there is a monitor and a speaker. During the experiment, which lasts about 10 minutes, sound recordings will be played from the speaker, and our team will record the baby’s reactions to these sounds. The entire experiment is completely safe for the baby.
HOW TO SIGN UP
You can sign up using the REGISTRATION FORM or by emailing kynclova@praha.psu.cas.cz or babylab@ff.cuni.cz.
12-14 MONTHSS & 24-29 MONTHS
Is your child 12–14 months or 24–29 months old, and monolingual or bilingual? Join our research on social preferences based on accents using behavioral methods.
This research explores how a child’s native language accent influences their language-based social preferences. We also investigate the impact of multilingual upbringing on these preferences.
You can learn more about language-based social preferences in this article from Vesmír magazine, which also mentions this experiment. As a reward for participating in this experiment, you will receive 300 CZK (a voucher for Rossmann drugstore).
HOW THE EXPERIMENT WORKS
During the experiment, the child sits on the parent’s lap and watches screens in front of them, where speakers will be shown alternately. After the presentation of the speakers, two toys will be displayed below the videos. The child will be invited to choose which speaker to take the toy from. The entire experiment, including preparation, takes about 10 minutes.
HOW TO SIGN UP
You can sign up using the REGISTRATION FORM or by emailing lucie.jaruskova@ff.cuni.cz or babylab@ff.cuni.cz.
5-6 YEARS
Is your child 5 or 6 years old and monolingual (Czech)? Take part in a study on the influence of diverse speech on understanding an unfamiliar English accent.
The aim of the study is to gain insight into how children adapt to non-native language accents they have not encountered before. We are interested in the effect of short-term exposure to speech, while watching cartoons, on their level of adaptation. As part of the experiment, the child will watch three short English cartoons at home and complete a task to assess understanding of English words after each. They will then watch two more cartoons on a tablet in our lab.
You can find detailed information about this research here. Participants will receive a reward of 500 CZK (a voucher for Rossmann drugstores) for taking part in the experiment.
HOW THE EXPERIMENT WORKS
During the experiment in the lab, the child will sit in a quiet room (with a parent present) and watch an English cartoon on a tablet. After the cartoon, they will complete a short exercise to test comprehension of the words from the cartoon. This will be followed by a break of about 30 minutes, after which the child will watch the final video and complete the last task. The child will then play a short game in Czech involving sorting pictures by color and shape. Each video, including the exercise, lasts no more than 10 minutes. Including the 30-minute break, your entire visit in the lab will take about 50 minutes.
HOW TO SIGN UP
You can sign up using this REGISTRATION FORM or by emailing monika.kucerova@ff.cuni.cz.
CHILDREN WITH COCHLEAR IMPLANTS
Are you a parent of a baby or child with a cochlear implant under the age of 7, and has it been less than 3 years since the implant was placed? Participate in a study on spoken language acquisition through an online questionnaire.
This research focuses on tracking vocabulary development in children with cochlear implants, with the possibility of follow-up surveys that allow parents to monitor their child’s vocabulary progress. As a reward for completing the questionnaire, you will receive 300 CZK (a Tesco or Rohlík e-voucher, based on your choice).
HOW THE EXPERIMENT WORKS
The experiment is conducted entirely online using an electronic Communication Development Questionnaire, which is the Czech adaptation of the CDI questionnaire. Parents fill out which words their child already knows.
HOW TO SIGN UP
You can sign up using the REGISTRATION FORM (please write “CI” in the notes section) or by emailing michaela.svoboda@ff.cuni.cz or babylab@ff.cuni.cz.
REGISTRATION FORM
Help us explore how children learn to speak.
For participating in our experiments, you will receive a reward in the form of a voucher (Rossmann drugstore/of your choice – depending on the type of experiment), and your baby will also receive a small gift from us.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at babylab@ff.cuni.cz or kynclova@praha.psu.cas.cz.
Links to our social media can be found at linktr.ee/speakinlab.