Singing to babies is vital to help them learn language, say scientists

The study’s author said: “Parents should talk and sing to their babies as much as possible or use infant-directed speech like nursery rhymes because it will make a difference to language outcome.” File picture: iStock/Kosamtu

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P … How many would read this to a tune?

According to scientists from Trinity College Dublin and the University of Cambridge, there’s more to the earworm than infuriating parents across the English-speaking world—they have found that singsong speech is crucial to helping babies learn language.