Rhythmic organization of the sound of infant crying

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine the temporal morphology and rhythmic structure underlying the repeated bursts of expiratory sounds in a sustained bout of crying of twenty-three 1-month-old infants. Durations of expiratory sounds and bursts were determined from a 90-s bout of naturally occurring cries recorded in the home before feeding. Results indicated wide individual differences in temporal morphology between infants and within infant cry sounds. Binary spectrum analysis of the presence of expiratory sounds in the cry sound detected rhythms in temporal organization at a wide range of dominant frequencies. Spectral complexity (higher numbers of peaks in the power spectrum) was related to a longer time since infants were last fed and shorter expiratory sounds. Results emphasize the importance of viewing cries of young infants as dynamic signals. An ontogenetic history of the rhythms of infant cry sounds may contribute to understanding organismic and environmental experiences which contribute to development.

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“…Yet, it is reasonable to expect, based on models of cry production (e.g., Golub, 1980), that arousal would affect not only the means of acoustic features but their variability and interrelations as well. As partial support for this idea, we note that Zeskind et al (1993) showed that the number of reliable peaks in the power spectra of cries increased over the course of a 90 s cry bout. Finally, the study of Zeskind et al (1985), which was based on the cries of a single infant, needs replication to explore further how cry acoustics change over time.…”

“…Fo is generally considered the basis of perceived pitch.) In a later study, Zeskind, Parker-Price, and Barr (1993) showed that the duration of cry expirations decreased reliably over time for hunger cries.…”

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.…”

The Influence of Hearing Impairment on Preverbal Emotional Vocalizations of Infants

“…Melody parameters have been suggested by Möller and Schönweiler [10] to play an important role in the distinction of NH and HI infants. Another promising approach might be the analysis of the sequential and temporal organization of call series [19,20]. A possible influence of hearing impairment on the temporal organization of call sequences is indicated by the finding that rhythmic patterns in cry bouts and in babbling seem to differ between NH and HI infants.…”