Multimedia Resources
Includes On the Web and In the News links curated by the authors, along with other audio/video content.
Click on the following links. Please note these will open in a new window.
News
In the News:
Description: These articles accompany the In the News features in this chapter.
Video
Video 1: Making Complex Sounds Visible
Description: Evan Grant makes sounds visible using cymatics, which is useful for analyzing complex sounds.
Video 2: Babies and Sign Language
Description: Psychologist Rain Bosworth studies how deaf babies learn language
Video 3: Language and Communication Disorders
Description: Neuroscientist Mike Bowers studies brain development and neural circuits for language using animal models.
Video 4: Right Brain vs. Left Brain
Description:Explains the difference between the left and right brain.
Audio
Audio 1: Your Brain on Sound
Description: Professor Nina Kraus talks about how hearing difficulties can be a marker for all types of neurological issues –autism, dyslexia, learning delays –that have nothing to do with our ears.
Audio 2: Music, Rhythm, and Language
Description: Neuroscientist Reyna Gordon was an aspiring opera singer but now studies the connections between rhythm and grammar, and how rhythm and music training might help children with atypical language development.
Web
On the Web 1: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders/Hereditary Hearing Loss
Description: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, a division of the National Institutes of Health, is an excellent resource site for information on deafness, language, and speech disorders, as well as information for student and teacher activities. The site Hereditary Hearing Loss provides an overview of the genetics of hereditary hearing loss.
On the Web 2: Hearing and How It Works/Auditory Transduction/Dancing Hair Cell
Description: Two animations, Hearing and How It Works and Auditory Transduction, give a good picture of what happens in the middle and inner ear. Dancing Hair Cell is a highly magnified video of an outer hair cell shortening and lengthening in rhythm with Linda Ronstadt’s “Quiéreme Mucho.”
On the Web 3: Biointeractive: The Cochlea
Description: Biointeractive: The Cochlea features an animation of the basilar membrane responding to pure tones and music. The video is a good demonstration of place analysis, although for simplicity’s sake it suggests that the basilar membrane around the area of greatest vibration does not vibrate at all.
On the Web 4: Cochlear Implant/Young Woman
Description: This is an animated explanation of the process of hearing and how cochlear implants restore hearing. A YouTube video captures the excitement of a young woman when her new implant is turned on.
On the Web 5: A Video from UNESCO/Miriam Makeba/This YouTube Interview
Description: To communicate over long distances on Isla Gomera, one of the Canary Islands, people use complex whistles; you can see a video from UNESCO on YouTube. The whistles are processed in the left- and right-hemisphere language areas by whistlers, but not by others.!Kung hunters of the Kalahari Desert communicate solely with clicks while stalking game, and some researchers believe clicks formed the first vocal language. (The ! symbol denotes a click, which is part of the name.) Hear South African singer Miriam Makeba demonstrate the click language and sing her famous “Click Song.” In addition, the host for The Daily Show, comedian Trevor Noah, speaks Xhosa, which also contains click syllables as can be seen in this YouTube interview on the BBC.
On the Web 6: Daniel Kish Describing His Use of Echolocation
Description: You can see a video of Daniel Kish describing his use of echolocation to “see” using sound in this fascinatingTED talk.
On the Web 7: National Aphasia Association/Stroke Family
Description: The National Aphasia Association has information about aphasia and research on the disorder. Stroke Family has information about recovering speech after a stroke, including free mini guides, with emphasis on how the family can help.
On the Web 8: International Dyslexia Association
Description: The International Dyslexia Association provides information on the disorder.
On the Web 9: Friends of Washoe/Alex Foundation/Alex Performing/A BBC Article from 2015
Description: At Friends of Washoe you can learn about the lives and personalities of Washoe and her family, including Loulis. Note especially Tatu’s signing and her awareness of time, including seasonal holidays. Sadly, Alex passed away in 2007, but Dr. Pepperberg continues her language research with two other parrots (Athena and Griffin). See the Alex Foundation’s descriptions of the birds and the research, and a video of Alex performing. A BBC article from 2015 describes the remarkable similarity between birdsong and human language.
On the Web 10: Dialect Quiz
Description: The dialect quiz can be taken on the New York Times’ website, and the results can be shared on several social media platforms.