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Background sounds at home—namely those from television, communication devices, music, appliances, transportation, and construction—can support or impede infant language interactions and learning. Yet real-time connections at home between background sound and infant–caregiver language interactions remain unexamined. We quantified background sounds in the home environment, from 1- to 2-hr video recordings of infant–mother everyday activities (infants aged 8–26 months, 36 female) in two samples: European-American, English-speaking, middle-socioeconomic status (SES) families (N = 36) and Latine, Spanish-speaking, low-SES families (N = 40). From videos, we identified and coded five types of background sound: television/screens, communication devices, music, appliances, and transportation/construction. Exposure to background sounds varied enormously among homes and was stable across a week, with television/screens and music being the most dominant type of background sounds. Infants' vocalizations and mothers' speech to infants were reduced in the presence of background sound (although effect sizes were small), highlighting real-time processes that affect everyday language exchanges. Over the course of a day, infants in homes with high amounts of background sounds may hear and produce less language than infants in homes with less background sounds, highlighting potential cascading influences from environmental features to everyday interactions to language learning. Public Significance Statement: Numerous features of the home environment affect infants' learning. In two samples, we video-recorded infants and mothers during everyday activities and examined associations between background sounds and language interactions. Infants experienced a variety of background sounds, including sounds from music, television, and appliances. Mothers and infants were less likely to talk in the presence than in the absence of background sounds, suggesting reduced opportunities for infants to hear and learn from language in "noisy" environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background People with profound intellectual disability experience a high prevalence of visual disability, making them more dependent on sound. However, research addressing the influence of the auditory environment is scarce. Method Observations of the auditory environments (soundscapes) and moods of people with profound intellectual and visual disabilities, in terms of core affect, were conducted in residential facilities by direct support personnel. Appraisals of soundscape and core affect dimensions were combined and analysed by means of multilevel linear regression. Results Findings endorse a positive relationship between the observed pleasantness and eventfulness of soundscapes and core affect of people with profound intellectual and visual disabilities. Conclusion Based on the results of this study we suggest a relationship between soundscapes and moods of people with profound intellectual and visual disabilities, as judged by staff members engaged in their environments. These findings give reason to believe that improved soundscapes could ameliorate the moods of the residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]