Linguistic and Paediatric researchers at The Chinese University of Hong Kong have developed a test to predict infants’ future language ability using electroencephalography (EEG). The test measures how an infant’s nervous system encodes and differentiates different Chinese speech sounds, and makes a prediction of an infant’s language abilities on a continuum of functions via machine learning.
Poor language skills can place a long-term burden on both individual and society. Language development remains remarkably stable without intervention. Early detection and forecasting of language development in children would be crucial to indicate to parents at the earliest time point that intervention may be needed to reduce the severity of potential impairment in children.
Founded in 1963, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a forward-looking comprehensive research university with a global vision and a mission to combine tradition with modernity, and to bring together China and the West. CUHK teachers and students hail from all around the world. Four Nobel laureates are associated with the university, and it is the only tertiary institution in Hong Kong with recipients of the Nobel Prize, Turing Award, Fields Medal and Veblen Prize sitting as faculty in residence. CUHK graduates are connected worldwide through an extensive alumni network. CUHK undertakes a wide range of research programmes in many subject areas, and strives to provide scope for all academic staff to undertake consultancy and collaborative projects with industry.