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Canonical Babbling Ratio Development in Infancy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Methodological and Ambient Language Influences
Margaret Cychosz, Helen L. Long · 2026 · Developmental Science
- Children
- 1,277 babies, from 42 studies
- Where
- 16 language communities
- Ages
- 5 to 24 months
- How
- Pulled together results from 42 studies that measured how much of babies' sounds were babble
- What it found
- The share of babbling sounds grew steadily, from about 1 in 8 at 5 months to about 2 in 3 at 24 months. Babies learning languages with simpler syllables babbled more at first, but the difference faded by about 20 months.
- Limits
- It measures how much babies babble, not when they start, and smaller studies tended to report higher numbers. We read the summary, not the full paper.