# Examining the Interplay of Sucking, Feeding, and Vocal Development in the First Year of Life

> **NIH NIH R21** · NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $157,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The first few years of speech-language development are formative in setting the stage for later communication
abilities. Coinciding with early speech-language development is the emergence of other behaviors, including
the complex sensorimotor processes involved in feeding (suck, drink, chew, swallow). Even though feeding
and communication share considerable neural resources and muscle systems, the link between them remains
poorly understood. Previous empirical evidence suggests that feeding and speech are distinct in their goals
and muscle activation patterns. However, it remains unclear how performance and ability on these skills are
related in the first year of life and if delays in one oromotor behavior manifest as delays in another. No
prospective studies to date are available to compare healthy and preterm infants in regards to mapping the
association between feeding and the emergence of vocal development. Therefore, the objective of this
application is to examine how sucking, oral feeding, and vocal development co-occur in the first year of life. In
the proposed research, we will longitudinally (sessions at 3 and 12 months) study two cohorts of infants
(n=100): those born full-term (n=50) and those born preterm (< 37 weeks gestational age; n=50). The goals of
the proposed research are to examine whether sucking ability (Aim 1), as measured quantitatively by sampling
non-nutritive suck (NNS) patterning, and oral feeding abilities (Aim 2), as measured quantitatively by the Oral
Feeding Skills (OFS) scale, are associated with infant vocal development over the first year of life. We will also
compare sucking, feeding and vocalization measures based on birth group (Aim 3). In each of the aims, infant
vocalizations will be measured using the Language Environment Analysis (LENA) system during full day
recordings of the child's home auditory environment. LENA will yield the following measures: vocalization rate,
percentage time vocalized, canonical syllable ratios (12 months), and phonetic inventories (12 months). We will
also have parents complete Part 1 of the McArthur-Bates Communication Development Inventory (CDI) at 12
months. We hypothesize that infants with well-patterned NNS and mature oral feeding skills will have higher
vocalization rate, greater percentage time vocalized, increased canonical syllable ratios, more complex
phonetic inventories, and higher CDI scores with full-term infants performing better across these measures.
Several features of this study provide an unprecedented level of power for identifying the connection between
early oromotor behaviors and vocal emergence, including longitudinal design, quantitative oromotor
assessments combined with behavioral data collected in the infant's natural environment, and a comparison of
these behaviors across two cohorts. Findings from this work could have broad implications for advancing the
field of speech science, and an immediate impact on clinical feeding and speec...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9829101
- **Project number:** 5R21DC016030-03
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Emily Zimmerman
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $157,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-12-01 → 2021-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9829101

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9829101, Examining the Interplay of Sucking, Feeding, and Vocal Development in the First Year of Life (5R21DC016030-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9829101. Licensed CC0.

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