What is already known on this subject Turn-taking and vocal coordination in mother-child interactions are critical for children's language and social development. Home musical engagement has also been linked to improved language outcomes and coordination skills. Children with cochlear implants (CIs) show sensitivity to the timing of early mother-child interactions. However, few studies have compared the development of vocal behaviours in mixed-hearing dyads (hearing parent and child with CI) to those in hearing dyads, and the findings to date have been mixed. To our knowledge, no study has explored whether turn-taking and timing in mixed-hearing dyads are positively influenced by greater amounts of home music engagement. What this study adds to existing knowledge This longitudinal study is the first to investigate turn-taking and timing in Italian-speaking mixed-hearing dyads over time (from before implantation to one year after CI activation) and in relation to home music engagement. This study confirms previous research showing that turn-taking becomes more frequent and temporally stable with age and increasing language proficiency, and that mothers and children influence each other's timing. In addition, it shows that some temporal characteristics of the interaction are negatively affected by children's hearing impairment. Finally, it shows that greater home music engagement is associated with more stable and fluid interactions in mixed-hearing dyads. What are the actual clinical implications of this study? The findings suggest that mothers' vocal behaviour characteristics play a role in shaping children's vocal coordination skill development and that everyday musical activities may enhance communicative timing in children with CIs and their mothers, supporting smoother early interactions. This opens new avenues for music-based interventions targeting language and social development in populations at risk for communicative difficulties, including those with hearing impairments.
Persici et al. (Fri,) studied this question.