Play Sounds: A Gateway to Listening and Language Development

When young children are learning to pay attention to and understand the auditory information they receive with their cochlear implants or hearing aids, it is important to be able to catch and keep their attention with fun and interesting sounds. In fact, play sounds can be used to promote a child’s ability to detect, discriminate, and identify sounds across all speech frequencies. Estabrooks, W. (Ed.). (2012) 101 Frequently Asked Questions About Auditory-Verbal Practice. Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.[1] This makes play sounds a valuable tool at this crucial time for listening and language development.

How to Use Play Sounds in Pediatric Speech-Language Therapy

Play sounds are easier to say than some real words, so they can be a good way to get a child to start talking. For example, the sound “aaah” is often used to represent an airplane. It is much easier for an early talker to say “aaah” than to say “airplane.” When a child wants to be picked up, they might be able to say “up up” before they are able to say “lift me up.”

Getting Started With Play Sounds for Cochlear Implant Recipients

Begin by exposing the child to a range of these sounds in a repetitive and meaningful way. At first, the main aim is to get the child to notice the sound. They might turn their head to search for the source of the sound, look up towards the person who said it, or pause what they were doing briefly. It is best not to say these sounds in isolation. Instead, simply add them to the enriched language we use when speaking to children with cochlear implants or hearing devices.

After a child has been hearing and listening to play sounds for some time, they typically notice the difference between the sounds and begin to attach meaning to each sound. At this stage, the child may look at or pick up the correct animal from their toys when they hear, for example, the cat sound “meow.” Or they might show they heard and understood “up up up” by lifting their arms up. By playing with a toy and hearing the sound repeatedly, the child associates the repeated sound with the object. Estabrooks, W., McCaffrey Morrison, H., & MacIver-Lux, K. (2020). Auditory-Verbal Therapy: Science, Research, and Practice. Plural Publishing.[3]

Developing a Child’s Auditory Feedback Loop

Another exciting development we look for is children attempting to imitate sounds. At first, the imitation probably won’t sound perfect. For example, they might say “ee ee” instead of “beep beep.” Children don’t speak perfectly when they first start. But if we can hear the suprasegmental patterns of the play sound in what they say, this shows the development of their auditory feedback loop—the ability to match what they say to what they hear. This is an excellent first step towards their first words.

Integrate Play Sounds Into Aural Rehabilitation With Listen and Play

MED-EL has a helpful resource to give you ideas about how to start using Play Sounds. Listen and Play consists of a poster and 20 illustrated cards. The poster outlines the importance of early interaction and includes practical ideas for activities to use during early interactions with infants and toddlers. It is available in English, French, and German.

The illustrated cards show familiar sounds and phrases matched with everyday objects and actions. The cards offer the sound or phrase in English and include suggestions in other languages as well.

With the help of these tips and resources, you can make the most of play sounds in auditory rehabilitation with infants and toddlers. On our rehabilitation downloads page, you can also find many other rehabilitation resources for children.