Acoustic Characteristics of Naturally Occurring Cries of Infants with "Colic"

Abstract

Although infantile colic has long been defined by a perceived excessive amount of crying, acoustic attributes of the cry sound may also contribute to perceptions that this early social behavior is excessive or problematic. From an original sample of 76 infants (38 infants referred to physicians for problematic crying, or "colic," and 38 pair-matched comparison infants), 48 infants who produced naturally occurring cry bouts both before and after an evening feeding were studied: 11 infants with Wessel's colic, 15 infants with non-Wessel's colic, and 22 comparison infants. Standard and vociferous cry segments were selected from up to 2 min of tape-recorded crying for spectrum analysis. Vociferous cry segments had a longer duration, a higher fundamental frequency, and a greater percentage of dysphonation than did standard segments. No differences between infant groups were found in cries before feeding. After feeding, infants who were problematic criers, independent of Wessel's criteria, showed a greater percentage of dysphonation in the vociferous cry segment than did comparison infants. This finding resulted from a decrease in dysphonation in the cries of comparison infants after feeding and an increase in those of infants with non-Wessel's colic. The dominant frequency also increased after feeding in the vociferous cries of infants with Wessel's colic, resulting in these infants having higher-pitched cries after feeding than infants in the other 2 groups. Results indicate that infants who are perceived to have problematic crying have objectively different acoustic features in their cry sounds that are particularly aversive, and that complaints about excessive crying cannot be accounted for simply on the basis of reporting bias in overly concerned or emotionally labile parents.

Neonatal Facial Coding System Scores and Spectral Characteristics of Infant Crying During Newborn Circumcision

“…[39][40][41][42] Crying is a graded signal, with acoustic and temporal measures varying with the intensity of infant arousal. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]20,[44][45][46] Present gaps in our knowledge about pain assessment and crying include how objective spectral and temporal measures of crying are related to scores on the neonatal pain assessment tools in clinical practice and to independent validated measures of infant pain. These results begin to address the development of cry analysis assessments of pain and analgesic response.…”

“…4 Variations in nervous system function have been hypothesized to result in graded changes in the acoustic and temporal measures of crying which have then been associated with synchronous changes in the intensity of perceived infant arousal. [5][6][7][8][9][10] For example, a wide range of studies suggests that infants with conditions of greater pain and arousal have cries with a higher fundamental frequency, [7][8][9][10] shorter expiratory components, faster repetition rates, 7,11-13 a higher dominant frequency, 14 and fewer distinct harmonics 7 which are then perceived to reflect greater infant arousal and need for urgent attention. Importantly, although these studies have been used to support a model of infant crying as a graded signal, reflecting the degree of infant pain and arousal, conclusions are mostly based on presumed degrees of infant pain, not direct and independent measures of infant pain.…”

Parent characteristics and conceptualizations associated with the emergence of infant colic

“…Frequent fussing is thought to characterize 'difficult' temperament which differs from colic in that it is considered more stable and enduring beyond the infants' first 3 months (Rothbart & Bates, 1998). Finally, studies on the acoustic characteristics and subjective assessments of the crying of infants with colic suggest that there is a basis for this distinction (Barr et al, 1992;Lester et al, 1992;Stifter & Braungart, 1992;Zeskind & Barr, 1997). For example, Zeskind and Barr (1997) found that infants with colic had higher-pitched cries after feeding than noncolic infants and those thought to have problematic crying.…”

“…Finally, studies on the acoustic characteristics and subjective assessments of the crying of infants with colic suggest that there is a basis for this distinction (Barr et al, 1992;Lester et al, 1992;Stifter & Braungart, 1992;Zeskind & Barr, 1997). For example, Zeskind and Barr (1997) found that infants with colic had higher-pitched cries after feeding than noncolic infants and those thought to have problematic crying. This emphasis on crying is further illustrated when considering parents' conceptualizations of infant colic.…”

“…It is important to note that parents of the non-Wessel and Wessel colic groups rated the after-feed cries of their infants as more 'sick' sounding (Barr et al, 1992). Moreover, a follow-up acoustical analysis demonstrated that the cries of both colic groups were more vociferous than the non-colic control group (Zeskind & Barr, 1997) suggesting that parents who refer their infants for problematic crying may not be entirely biased.…”