The following are some common questions that caregivers and consent-providers have had for researchers using longform audio methods. Some questions (and answers) are more common amongst caregivers who are familiar with technology, such as those in North America, and some are more common amongst caregivers who are less familiar with technology: **1. Is the recorder safe? How do you know that it’s safe to have this electronic device strapped to my child's chest all day?** Possible answer: *The recorder simply records sounds, it does not transmit any sort of information to the cloud like mobile devices. LENA has been used in the past with thousands of children of all ages and there have never been any reported issues.* **2. What types of noise, language, etc. does the recorder pick up?** Possible answer: *The recorder captures any sound within about a 6-foot radius of the child wearing the recorder. This includes speech, noise, and sounds from the TV or radio.* **3. Who is being recorded? Is only my child being recorded?** Possible answer: *People who are talking with the child or other people talking near the child are likely to be recorded. It is important that you tell everyone who comes into your home that there is a recording taking place. We will give you an information card that explains the purpose of the study so you can explain it to your family members and visitors. If you go to a private place (like a friend’s house), you should tell them about the recording and make sure they are ok with it. You can always pause the recording if someone is not comfortable being recorded.* **4. Can I take the recorder with me to public places like the mall?** Possible answer: *You can take the recorder to public places such as the park or the grocery store. At a public place you do not have to alert people about the recording. If someone asks you, you can explain the study to them by giving them the information card that we’ve provided.* **5. Who is going to listen to the recording?** Possible answer: *The LENA system comes with software that analyzes the sounds and speech in the environment automatically, without a human ever listening to the recording. However, we also want to listen to parts of the recording so that we can verify that the information we are getting from the software is correct, and so that we can analyze aspects of the interactions that the software cannot tell us about. In this case, researchers such as myself, but also others who are unaware of your identity, will listen to the recordings. These researchers have been trained in the ethics of human subjects research and will follow procedures to protect your privacy and confidentiality.* **6. Are you going to save the recordings?** Possible answer: *We plan on saving the recordings in a secure location on a hospital/university server, which can only be accessed by researchers on our project. The recording will be identified by a code and will not be saved with your name or other personal information. If you do not want us to save the recording, you will have the option to ask us to delete the recording by checking the box at the front of the logbook that you are taking home. If you ask us to delete the recording, we will delete it immediately after processing, no questions asked.* **7. Can I erase the recording at home?** Possible answer: *Unfortunately, you cannot erase the recording from home. That is a limitation of the technology. The recording can only be erased when it’s hooked up to a computer with the right software program. If you want us to delete the recording, you can indicate that in the logbook and we guarantee that we will delete it.* **8. With whom are you going to share the recordings?** Possible answer: *If you gave us permission to share your recordings, we will deposit them in a password-protected database special for researchers. This database is only accessible to researchers who demonstrate training in research ethics and who sign a contract stating that they will keep the privacy of participants.* **9. Can I get a copy of the recording?** Possible answer: *Because people other than you and your child might be present in the recording, we cannot give you a copy of the recording as this would violate their privacy. At the end of the study, we can give you a clip from the recording that involves just you and your child. Do you have a favorite moment from the day of the recording that you would like us to find for you?* **10. Could you remove a private conversation I had from the recording?** Possible answer: *If you know approximately what time of day the conversation took place, we can remove/low-pass filter (sounds like muffled underwater speech) the conversation from the audio recording. Alternatively, you can choose to delete the entire recording and complete it on another day. Note that even if we remove a portion of the recording, the automatic measurements derived with the LENA system (such as number of words spoken by adults) will remain unaltered.* **11. Can my child wear the recorder to (pre-)school?** Possible answer: *Because we have not received consent from all of the parents at your child's school, we ask that your child not wear the recorder to school. You can choose to record on days when your child is not at school or, alternatively, you can pause the recorder while your child is at school and turn it back on when you pick them up.* **12. Does this have a camera? Does this take pictures or video?** This recording device will only ever capture what you say. There is no camera or video. (note that some researchers do incorporate video/photos into daylong recordings). **13. Can you listen to me on your computer (while the recording is taking place)?** No, your recording lives on this recorder while you're using it. After you finish recording for the day, you can tell me if you would like to delete the recording in which case I will never hear it. **14. Is the LENA recorder safe for newborn babies?** Yes! The LENA recorder has been used with hundreds of babies, including newborns. It is just as safe for newborns as it is toddlers (in fact we find that younger babies are more likely to ignore the recording device than older children). **15. Is this device like a phone?** This device is not like a phone. You cannot call someone with it. You cannot receive messages on it. I cannot hear what you are saying until you give the recorder back to me.