Lots of people automatically speak to babies with a 'baby voice', using a sing-song rhythm and silly sounding words like 'bunny' and 'doggy'. But how does this affect the way babies learn language?

In the Indian raga the rhythms are played on a tabla. Rhythms in Indian classical music are based on rhythmic cycles. The tal is a repeating rhythm pattern usually played by the tabla - small drums.

All over the world, parents sing songs and recite rhymes to their young children. Researchers have known for some time that this has a stimulating or calming effect on babies, but it turns out that ...