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LENA Terminology

A glossary of your favorite LENA words and concepts!

LENA

LENA's name comes from Language ENvironment Analysis, the technology at the core of our early language programs. LENA technology is the industry standard for measuring talk with children, which is a critical factor in early brain development. Our small wearable device — often referred to as a “talk pedometer” — and cloud-based software deliver detailed feedback to help adults make proven, sustainable increases in interactive talk with children.

Read on for definitions and details about conversational turns, adult words, child vocalizations, and TV/electronic sound.

Conversational Turns

Conversational turns are paired back-and-forth interactions between the key child who is wearing the LENA device and nearby adults. If the child vocalizes and an adult talks back, or vice versa, that's one conversational turn.

Details

Either party may initiate the turn. The child vocalization can be followed by adult words, or vice versa.

Turns are counted in pairs only. Child-Adult get a turn count of 1 (as would Adult-Child). Child-Adult-Child also receives a count of 1, but Child-Adult-Child-Adult counts as 2 turns.

Overlapping speech segments, coughs, cries, and other vegetative and fixed signals do not contribute to Conversational Turns.

👉 Visit this resource to learn more about why turns are so important. 

Adult Words

Adult Words are the speech from adults near the key child who is wearing the LENA device, when the adult's speech is the primary sound. 

Details

LENA does not identify what specific words are spoken. It only estimates how many words are in the adult speech, based on sound patterns.

When LENA's automated counts were compared against those from professional transcribers, we reached an overall agreement of 98%, for a .92 correlation.

When other sounds are just as loud as the adult's voice, LENA can't count them. (It is likely the child's developing brain doesn't have access to them either!)

Laughing and crying do not count...but singing does! If the adult is singing alone with no background music, then the words are counted, and the speech is eligible to be part of a conversational turn. In choral singing or singing with background music, words are not counted in overlap, and so no turns can be counted.

Adult words at normal volume are likely counted at up to about 8-10 feet away from the child, but...there is no specific distance rule for counting or not counting adult words. It's about the volume and clarity of the speech. The device is a proxy for the child's ear. The farther away the adult is, and/or the more angled away from the child, the less likely his/her speech will be the primary sound received by the child's ear/device. A phone call with a group of people offers an analogy. When the people on the other end of the call are close to their phone and speaking one at a time, you can tell who is talking and hear their words clearly. If they're talking at the same time, or there is a lot of background noise, or they get far away, you can't always tell who is talking or hear their words.

Refer to our Technical Reports for details on the development of this and other LENA system measures.

✨When adult words occur within 5 seconds of a child vocalization, a turn is counted! ✨

Child Vocalizations

A Child Vocalization is speech, or a sound related speech development, produced by the child who is wearing the device. 

What counts?

Coos and babbles from babies

Mispronounced words from toddlers

Partial or full sentences from preschoolers

Responsive vocal noises from preverbal children

Singing (when one voice and no background music)

💡Fun fact!

LENA’s vocalization counting rules are based in part on what speech science says about syllables and breaths. LENA's minimum vocalization duration is very short (0.6 seconds) so that we can capture a single syllable, or a coo from an infant. There is no maximum vocalization duration, but the beginning and end of a vocalization are marked by the presence of something else with a duration of at least 0.3 seconds... the typical duration of a breath! Following these rules, each of the following examples is one vocalization:

  • aaa
  • mamamama
  • milk
  • want milk
  • Mom can I have some milk?

What doesn't count?

Non-speech sounds from the child's vocal tract such as burping, sneezing, breathing, crying, and laughing.

✨When a child vocalization occurs within 5 seconds of adult words, a turn is counted! ✨

TV/Electronic Sound

While the LENA Grow report does not show sound from electronic sources, it's important to know how LENA handles these sounds. When electronic sources represent the dominant signal in the environment, words, vocalizations, and turns cannot be counted (even if the sound includes language).   

Examples:

  • television, radio, stereo, or blue-tooth speaker
  • toy that "talks," plays music, or makes sounds
  • noise or music machine
  • crib mobile, bouncy chair, baby swing, etc. that plays music or sounds
  • laptop, desktop, or tablet speakers (YouTube, Zoom meeting, video games, etc.)
  • smart speaker (Alexa, Google Home, etc.)
  • speakerphone (voice call, FaceTime, Skype, TikTok, etc.)
  • speakers connected to a gaming console
  • AAC device (a "talker" to replace or enhance oral speech)