Baby boys are more 'talkative' than girls during their the first year

A new study has revealed that it is only after they turn a year old that little girls start babbling more than their male counterparts.

Researchers studied nearly 6,000 babies aged up to two years old and fitted them with small audio recorders for an average of six days.

An algorithm analysed over 450,000 hours of recordings and concluded that boys up to the age of one were 10 per cent more talkative than girls.

The experts concluded that young baby boys babble more as it is an important way to signal to their parents that they are healthy.

Dr Kimbrough Oller, who led the study for the University of Memphis, said: "Babies are inclined to babble and produce speech-like sounds because adults find this adorable and want to look after them.

"Human infants are more helpless compared to our close relatives, the apes, so it's particularly important they get adults to look after them.

"So it does not appear to be about practice for speech, at this age, as many people think."

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