Silence matters: The role of pauses during dyadic maternal and paternal vocal interactions with preterm and full-term infants

This study examined the characteristics of the vocal behaviors of parents and preterm infants, as compared to their term-born peers, at three months of age. Potential links between specific features of parental IDS and infants’ vocal activity were also sought. We analyzed the frequencies and durations of vocalizations and pauses during the dyadic interactions of 19 preterm and 19 full-term infants with their mothers and fathers. The results showed that the duration of the vocalizations was shorter for the preterm than for the full-term infants, regardless of the interactive partner. Mothers vocalized more frequently and for a longer time than fathers, regardless of the group, but only the frequency of paternal utterances was significantly and positively correlated with the frequency and duration of infant vocalizations. Frequent conversational pauses of a relatively short total duration seemed to be related to more active infants’ vocal participation, regardless of prematurity and parent gender.