Toddlers as young as 2 understand that the noises they make can affect people around them—and know how to adapt the loudness of the sounds they make depending on what they’re doing and where they are.
“This research tells us more about what young children are capable of understanding,” said lead author Rebecca Williamson, assistant psychology professor at Georgia State University. “It means that it’s developmentally appropriate to talk to 2-year-olds about hearing and ask them to be quiet—it’s not out of their grasp to understand this.”
Until now, little has been known about how children develop the ability to understand sounds that others hear.
