Infant Cry Research Articles

The neural correlates of paternal consoling behavior and frustration in response to infant crying.

Human fathers often form strong attachments to their infants that contribute to positive developmental outcomes. However, fathers are also the most common perpetrators of infant abuse, and infant crying is a known trigger. Research on parental brain responses to infant crying have typically employed passive listening paradigms. However, parents usually engage with crying infants. Therefore, we examined the neural responses of 20 new fathers to infant cries both while passively listening, and while actively attempting to console the infant by selecting soothing strategies in a video game format. Compared with passive listening, active responding robustly activated brain regions involved in movement, empathy and approach motivation, and deactivated regions involved in stress and anxiety. Fathers reporting more frustration had less activation in basal forebrain areas and in brain areas involved with emotion regulation (e.g., prefrontal cortex and the supplementary motor area). Successful consolation of infant crying activated regions involved in both action-outcome learning and parental caregiving (anterior and posterior cingulate cortex). Overall, results suggest that active responding to infant cries amplifies activation in many brain areas typically activated during passive listening. Additionally, paternal frustration during active responding may involve a combination of low approach motivation and low engagement of emotion regulation.

An 800 nW Switched-Capacitor Feature Extraction Filterbank for Sound Classification

This paper presents a 32-channel analog filterbank for front-end signal processing in sound classification systems. It employs a passive N-path switched capacitor topology to achieve high power efficiency and reconfigurability. The circuit's unwanted harmonic mixing products are absorbed by the machine learning model during training. To enable a systematic pre-silicon study of this effect, we develop a computationally efficient circuit model that can process large machine learning datasets on practical time scales. Measured results using a 130 nm CMOS prototype IC indicate competitive classification accuracy on datasets for baby cry detection (93.7% AUC) and voice commands (92.4% average precision), while lowering the feature extraction energy compared to digital realizations by approximately 2× and 10×, respectively. The 1.44 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> chip consumes 800 nW, which corresponds to the lowest normalized power per simultaneously sampled channel in recent literature.

Reported maternal childhood maltreatment experiences, amygdala activation and functional connectivity to infant cry.

Maternal childhood maltreatment experiences (CMEs) may influence responses to infants and affect child outcomes. We examined associations between CME and mothers’ neural responses and functional connectivity to infant distress. We hypothesized that mothers with greater CME would exhibit higher amygdala reactivity and amygdala–supplementary motor area (SMA) functional connectivity to own infant’s cries. Postpartum mothers (N = 57) assessed for CME completed an functional magnetic resonance imaging task with cry and white-noise stimuli. Amygdala region-of-interest and psychophysiological interaction analyses were performed. Our models tested associations of CME with activation and connectivity during task conditions (own/other and cry/noise). Exploratory analyses with parenting behaviors were performed. Mothers with higher CME exhibited higher amygdala activation to own baby’s cries vs other stimuli (F1,392 = 6.9, P < 0.01, N = 57) and higher differential connectivity to cry vs noise between amygdala and SMA (F1,165 = 22.3, P < 0.001). Exploratory analyses revealed positive associations between both amygdala activation and connectivity and maternal non-intrusiveness (Ps < 0.05). Increased amygdala activation to own infant’s cry and higher amygdala–SMA functional connectivity suggest motor responses to baby’s distress. These findings were associated with less intrusive maternal behaviors. Follow-up studies might replicate these findings, add more granular parenting assessments and explore how cue processing leads to a motivated maternal approach in clinical populations.

Characterization of infant healthy and pathological cry signals in cepstrum domain based on approximate entropy and correlation dimension

• Healthy and unhealthy infant cry signals are analyzed in by their respective cepstrums. • Approximate entropy and correlation dimension are estimated from cepstrums. • Statistical tests show evidence that approximate entropy and correlation dimension are different across healthy and unhealthy infant cry signals. • Approximate entropy and correlation dimension in cepstrum domain are promising biomarkers for pathology detection in infant cries. The analysis of infant cry signals is becoming an attractive field of research in biomedical physics and engineering for better understanding of the pathologies and appropriate medial diagnosis. The main purpose of the current study is to characterize infant normal and pathological cry signals by studying their respective oscillations by means of approximate entropy and correlation dimension estimated from their respective cepstrums. We analyzed two different sets. The first one is composed of 2638 expiration cry signals and the second set is composed of 1860 inspiration cry signals, both sets equally weighted. After estimating approximate entropy and correlation dimensions from cepstrums, three standard statistical tests are applied to them including the Student t -test, F -test, and two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. All statistical tests are performed at 5% statistical significance level. The empirical results follow. First, approximate entropy and correlation dimension measures exhibit different statistical characteristics across healthy and unhealthy infant cries from both expiration and inspiration sets. Second, the level of approximate entropy in cepstrums of healthy infant cries is statistically higher than that in cepstrums of unhealthy infant cries. Third, the level of correlation dimension in cepstrums of healthy infant cries is statistically higher than that in cepstrums of unhealthy infant cries. In other words, cepstrums of healthy infant cries show lower randomness and disorder compared to cepstrums of unhealthy infant cries. It is concluded that cepstrum-based approximate entropy and correlation dimension discriminate healthy from pathological infant cry signals and can be employed as effective biomarkers for biomedical diagnosis of cry records in clinical milieu.

Roles and Associated Sociodemographic Correlates of Male Involvement in Breastfeeding in Juba, South Sudan

Optimal breastfeeding, which involves initiating breastfeeding within one hour of birth, giving colostrum, exclusive breastfeeding for six months, and introducing complementary food at six months, prevents under-five deaths in developing countries, saving millions of lives annually. The maximum effect of prolactin and oxytocin on milk production is dependent on insulin, insulin-like growth factors, cortisol, and the intake of nutrients and fluids. Stress affects these factors and processes, reducing the quantity and quality of milk for the growth and health of the baby. The supportive or non-supportive role of male partners affects the mothers' physical and emotional states. The researchers administered a structured questionnaire of 13 close-ended questions through scheduled interviews with 275 male parents of children younger than two years. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 28.0 analyzed the data to generate frequencies, median, and interquartile range as measures of dispersion and central tendency, respectively. Spearman's rank correlation test did the calculations of correlations. Fathers helped with house works, responding to the baby's cries and bathing the baby (86%); taking care of other children or other house responsibilities (85%); taking care of the baby while the mother sleeps for a bit of time (85%) and smiling, holding and watching the mother as she breastfeeds (91%). Roles were correlated with education level (r=.308, p=0.000<0.05) and employment (r=-.155, p=.007<0.05) but not with hours of work (r=0.049, p=0.448>0.05).

Trauma Craniano Violento (TCV): Relação entre Conhecimento de Pais, Potencial de Abuso Infantil e Status Socioeconômico Familiar

Resumo Descreve a relação entre conhecimento sobre Trauma Craniano Violento (TCV), status socioeconômico e potencial de maus-tratos infantis. Dezenove pais e 61 mães responderam aos instrumentos Escala de Atitudes Frente ao Choro do Bebê, Inventário de Potencial de Abuso Infantil e Questionário Socioeconômico. A correlação de Spearman demonstrou resultados significativos entre escolaridade e renda com crenças sobre cuidados com o bebê (r = 0,32, p = 0,004; r = 0,22, p = 0,05, respectivamente), poder aquisitivo e escolaridade com conhecimentos sobre choro infantil (r = -0,40, p&lt;0,001; r = -0,22, p = 0,05, respectivamente), número de filhos com estratégias para lidar com choro (r = -0,29, p = 0,01) e rigidez com consequências de sacudir o bebê e crenças sobre cuidados com o bebê (r = -0,29, p = 0,008; r = -0,359, p = 0,001, respectivamente). Considera importante direcionar intervenções às necessidades de cada população e trabalhar a flexibilidade parental para reduzir o TCV.

Keeping

Keeping Thomas Dodson (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Photo by Patrick Gaudin [End Page 20] It was a humbling thing, asking for help like this, needing it so badly. But removing his hat, brushing flakes of snow from brim and crown, Guy knew there was no other way. His neighbors' fields, already stripped of corn and soybeans, would soon be a single plain of snow, patches of winter rye the only green for acres. [End Page 21] Cold winds would blow freely across all that flatness, gathering strength until they reached the stand of pines at the edge of his apiary. The trees would provide a break, and he could wrap the hives in tar paper to keep out the frost, but it wouldn't be enough. His bees, what was left of them, they wouldn't survive an Iowa winter. He needed to take them west. He'd been standing on the porch of Taylor's place, weighed down with what he meant to ask, when he heard the baby crying. It wailed and wailed, a helpless thing, full to the top with need. When it finally hushed, he opened the screen and knocked. Taylor's wife answered. She had the baby with her, his head covered in wisps of fine brown hair, face pressed to her breast, sucking away. Guy coughed and looked down at his shoes. "Come in," Andrea said, unconcerned. "Taylor's out back, finishing up." He followed her inside, ducking to avoid the transom. Forty-odd years of lifting supers filled with honey, each box heavy as a newborn calf, had stooped his shoulders. But all told, work in the beeyard had done him good. He hadn't dwindled like other men his age, was still broad-backed and tall. He knew to move carefully in these old farmhouses. In the dining room, his eyes were drawn to the glass-windowed cabinet. It was built to house pickled beets and bottles of homemade jam, but Taylor's wife had stocked it with books, their spines emblazoned with words like "feminist," "gay and lesbian," "queer." He could remember a time when it would have been dangerous to have such books where people could see them. "Ain't much difference," his father had said, "between a cocksucker and a communist." "You're in your Sunday best," Andrea said. "Business in town?" She lowered herself into a chair and settled the baby on her lap. "The bank. Every once in a while, they like to bring you in, turn you upside down, see if anything falls out." She smiled politely. In truth, it was only for this visit that he'd traded his work boots for Oxfords, set aside his overalls, and retrieved his suit from the back of the closet. He'd worn it last ten years ago, at Alma's funeral. The back door clattered shut, and Taylor called from the kitchen, "Something got at one of the hives. Scat on the ground and some bees chewed and spat out." "In here," Andrea said. "Guy stopped by." "Oh, yeah?" Taylor said cheerfully. She strode into the room, wiping her hands on the front of her jeans, the cuffs still tucked into her socks. [End Page 22] She placed a hand on Andrea's shoulder, bent down and kissed the baby's head. The chair next to Andrea was stacked with papers. Taylor cleared them and sat down. "Should've phoned first," Guy said, shifting in his seat. "You're always welcome, you know that." The tips of his ears burning, he looked at his hands. These bouts of bashfulness, they sometimes happened around Taylor. She was just so—he couldn't think of a better word for it—handsome. She reminded him of James Dean in East of Eden and also, vaguely, of Milton Law, a high school classmate and the first boy he'd ever kissed. "Brought you this." Setting his hat on the table, he retrieved the package from under his arm, a square section of honeycomb in a clear plastic box. He'd selected, for his offering, a product of his strongest hive. Workers had filled each of the cells...

Study of Linear Discriminant Analysis to Identify Baby Cry Based on DWT and MFCC

Baby crying is a common behavior among babies and is a means of verbal communication for babies who express their needs and desires. A baby’s cry identification system is needed because it makes it easy for adults to find out the meaning of a baby’s cry. This study proposes a system for classifying infant crying sounds using Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) with Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and Mel-frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) as a feature extraction method. Based on experiments, the system can identify the sound of crying babies grouped into 5 (five) classes, namely discomfort, hunger, colds, burp, and drowsiness. The system achieves an accuracy of 94% and an average computing time of 1.5506 seconds. The performance of Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) outperformed Principal Component Analysis (LDA) in the identification of crying babies

How vocal temporal parameters develop: a comparative study between humans and songbirds, two distantly related vocal learners

Abstract Human infants acquire motor patterns for speech during the first several years of their lives. Sequential vocalizations such as human speech are complex behaviors, and the ability to learn new vocalizations is limited to only a few animal species. Vocalizations are generated through the coordination of three types of organs: namely, vocal, respiratory, and articulatory organs. Moreover, sophisticated temporal respiratory control might be necessary for sequential vocalization involving human speech. However, it remains unknown how coordination develops in human infants and if this developmental process is shared with other vocal learners. To answer these questions, we analyzed temporal parameters of sequential vocalizations during the first year in human infants and compared these developmental changes to song development in the Bengalese finch, another vocal learner. In human infants, early cry was also analyzed as an innate sequential vocalization. The following three temporal parameters of sequential vocalizations were measured: note duration (ND), inter-onset interval, and inter-note interval (INI). The results showed that both human infants and Bengalese finches had longer INIs than ND in the early phase. Gradually, the INI and ND converged to a similar range throughout development. While ND increased until 6 months of age in infants, the INI decreased up to 60 days posthatching in finches. Regarding infant cry, ND and INI were within similar ranges, but the INI was more stable in length than ND. In sequential vocalizations, temporal parameters developed early with subsequent articulatory stabilization in both vocal learners. However, this developmental change was accomplished in a species-specific manner. These findings could provide important insights into our understanding of the evolution of vocal learning.

White matter integrity moderates the relation between experienced childhood maltreatment and fathers' behavioral response to infant crying.

The ability to provide appropriate responses to infant distress is vital to paternal care, but may be affected by fathers’ experiences of childhood maltreatment. Detrimental effects of childhood maltreatment have been found in the adult brain's white matter fibers, accompanied with impaired emotional and cognitive functioning. In the current study (N = 121), we examined new and expectant fathers’ childhood maltreatment experiences (i.e. emotional and physical abuse and neglect), current behavioral responses (i.e. handgrip force) to infant cry sounds, and white matter integrity using diffusion tensor imaging. First, more exposure to childhood maltreatment was associated with more use of excessive handgrip force in response to infant crying by fathers. Second, the association between experienced childhood maltreatment and white matter integrity was not significant in whole‐brain analyses. Lastly, we found that the association between maltreatment exposure and excessive handgrip force during infant crying was absent in fathers with high tract integrity in the bilateral uncinate fasciculus. These findings possibly point to insufficient behavioral inhibition or emotional dysregulation in fathers who experienced childhood maltreatment, but buffering for this effect in those with larger integrity in brain fibers connecting the amygdala and prefrontal cortex.

Breastfeeding motivation in mothers of excessive crying infants: A correlation study

ABSTRACT This study was conducted to determine the correlation between mothers’ thoughts about infant crying and breastfeeding motivation. The research had a cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational survey model. The population of the research consisted of mothers of infants who were aged between 3 weeks and 6 months and brought to the Pediatric Outpatient Clinic of a hospital in Turkey due to excessive crying complaints. The sample consisted of 210 mothers who met the inclusion criteria and agreed to participate in the study. Data were collected using the Infant Crying Questionnaire (ICQ), and the Breastfeeding Motivation Scale (BMS). In our study, there was a positive weak correlation between the Attachment, Minimization, Directive Control, and Spoiling subscales of the ICQ and Intrinsic Motivation and Integrative Regulation, Identified regulation, Introjected regulation, External regulation-infant health subscales of the BMS (r = 0.26–0.49). Those who had positive thoughts about infant crying had significantly higher breastfeeding motivation..

Cognitive processing of infant stimuli in pregnant women with and without affective disorders and the association to postpartum depression

Pregnancy and childbirth are among the strongest risk factors for depression but the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying this enhanced risk are unknown. This study investigated emotional and non-emotional cognition in 57 pregnant women with or without an affective disorder during their third trimester, and the association between cognitive biases and subsequent postpartum depression (PPD). Of the pregnant women, 22 had a diagnosis of unipolar disorder (UD) and seven of bipolar disorder (BD) in full or partial remission, while 28 had no history of affective disorder. We included a control group of 29 healthy non-pregnant women. First, participants were interviewed, completed non-emotional and emotional cognitive tests and lastly filled out questionnaires. The participants were assessed two times after birth: at a home visit shortly after birth, and with a telephone interview to assess PPD in the first six months after birth. Healthy pregnant women rated infant cries less negatively than non-pregnant women, possibly reflecting preparation for motherhood. Pregnant women with UD exhibited a negative bias in ratings of infant cries, whereas pregnant women with BD showed a positive bias in ratings of infant happy faces and recognition of adult facial expressions. Across all pregnant women, more negative ratings of infant cries were associated with enhanced risk of PPD. Negatively biased perception of infant cries during pregnancy may thus signal vulnerability toward PPD.

Do Victims of Abusive Head Trauma Visit Emergency Departments More Often Than Children Hospitalized for Fever? A Case-Control Study.

During the first years of life, infant crying is a common trigger of abusive head trauma (AHT). Emergency department (ED) use by AHT victims before visits for child abuse symptoms is not well known, particularly for infant crying. Furthermore, diagnosis could be missed. In the same period, fever is a common reason for hospitalization unconnected with AHT. The main goal of our study was to compare the ED use by AHT victims before visits for child abuse symptoms and by children of the same age hospitalized for fever. We conducted a retrospective case-control study from 2011 to June 2018 in a French hospital. We compared cases of AHT selected using the International Classification of Diseases and control subjects hospitalized in the general pediatric unit for fever without immunodeficiency matched in age. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. Among the 75 victims of AHT, 5 had at least 1 previous ED visit not linked with abuse. None had visited for infant crying. Among the control subjects, 34 had at least 1 previous ED visit, including 6 for infant crying. Among the 57 dyads of controls and cases living in the hospital's area, the controls had significantly more previous ED visits than the cases (P < 0.001). There were more male infants among the cases (72% vs. 55%, P = 0.033). Our study suggests that AHT victims had no more ED visits before visits for child abuse symptoms, particularly not for infant crying.

Don’t leave me alone! Ethics of quarantine and isolation in young children

What's in a baby's cry, when separated from his parents? Fear, anxiety, frustration, loneliness? A global crisis has struck at the heart of his world, yet he understands nothing except that his parents are not with him.

Musical Intervals in Infants’ Spontaneous Crying over the First 4 Months of Life

Introduction: Perception and memorizing of melody and rhythm start about the third trimester of gestation. Infants have astonishing musical predispositions, and melody contour is most salient for them. Objective: To longitudinally analyse melody contour of spontaneous crying of healthy infants and to identify melodic intervals. The aim was 3-fold: (1) to answer the question whether spontaneous crying of healthy infants regularly exhibits melodic intervals across the observation period, (2) to investigate whether interval events become more complex with age and (3) to analyse interval size distribution. Methods: Weekly cry recordings of 12 healthy infants (6 females) over the first 4 months of life were analysed (6,130 cry utterances) using frequency spectrograms and pitch analyses (PRAAT). A preselection of utterances containing a well-identifiable, noise-free and undisturbed melodic contour was applied to identify and measure melodic intervals in the final subset of 3,114 utterances. Age-dependent frequency of occurrence of melodic intervals was statistically analysed using generalized estimating equations. Results: 85.3% of all preselected melody contours (n = 3,114) either contained single rising or falling melodic intervals or complex events as combinations of both. In total 6,814 melodic intervals were measured. A significant increase in interval occurrence was found characterized by a non-linear age effect (3 developmental phases). Complex events were found to significantly increase linearly with age. In both calculations, no sex effect was found. Interval size distribution showed a maximum of the minor second as the prevailing musical interval in infants’ crying over the first 4 months of life. Conclusion: Melodic intervals seem to be a regular phenomenon of spontaneous crying of healthy infants. They are suggested to be a further candidate for developing an early risk marker of vocal control in infants. Subsequent studies are needed to compare healthy infants and infants at risk for respiratory-laryngeal dysfunction to investigate the diagnostic value of the occurrence of melodic intervals and their age-depending complexification.

Efficacy of a preventive instructional module on mothers’ knowledge regarding shaken baby syndrome

Objective: Shaken baby syndrome (SBS) is a shocking phenomenon that is recognized as one of the most severe forms of child abuse with very high rates of morbidity and mortality among infant less than one year of age. Although of its high mortality and morbidity, it is a highly preventable health problem. So, there is an essential need for a strategy to prevent it through education by nurses and physicians to new mothers. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a preventive instructional module on mothers’ knowledge regarding SBS.Methods: A quasi-experimental design was carried out on eighty mothers who had delivered full-term infants and hospitalized on labour and delivery unit affiliated to Mansoura University Hospital, Mansoura City, Egypt. Data were collected through using of a structured interview questionnaire sheet (pre and post-test format) for assessing mothers’ knowledge about SBS and infant’s crying.Results: The total mean knowledge scores improved post implementation of a preventive instructional module regarding SBS compared to pre-implementation (0.86 ± 0.19 versus 0.35 ± 0.39 respectively).Conclusions: The study hypothesis was accepted. There were highly significant improvement in the studied women’s knowledge regarding SBS and infant crying. Indicating that the developed preventive instructional module was an effective tool for the enrichment of mothers’ knowledge regarding SBS and infant’s crying.Recommendation: Implementation of antenatal classes for improving mothers’ knowledge regarding SBS and infant crying.

Innate and plastic mechanisms for maternal behaviour in auditory cortex.

Infant cries evoke powerful responses in parents1–4. To what extent are parental animals intrinsically sensitive to neonatal vocalizations, or might instead learn about vocal cues for parenting responses? In mice, pup-naive virgins do not recognize the meaning of pup distress calls, but retrieve isolated pups to the nest following cohousing with a mother and litter5–9. Distress calls are variable, requiring co-caring virgins to generalize across calls for reliable retrieval10,11. Here we show that the onset of maternal behavior in mice results from interactions between intrinsic mechanisms and experience-dependent plasticity in auditory cortex. In maternal females, calls with inter-syllable intervals (ISIs) from 75:375 ms elicited pup retrieval, and cortical responses generalized across these ISIs. In contrast, naive virgins were behaviorally sensitive only to the most common (‘prototypical’) ISIs. Inhibitory and excitatory neural responses were initially mismatched in naive cortex, with untuned inhibition and overly-narrow excitation. During cohousing, excitatory responses broadened to represent a wider range of ISIs, while inhibitory tuning sharpened to form a perceptual boundary. We presented synthetic calls during cohousing and observed that neurobehavioral responses adjusted to match these statistics, a process requiring cortical activity and the hypothalamic oxytocin system. Neuroplastic mechanisms therefore build on an intrinsic sensitivity in mouse auditory cortex, enabling rapid plasticity for reliable parenting behavior.

Associations Between Neonatal Cry Acoustics and Visual Attention During the First Year.

It has been suggested that early cry parameters are connected to later cognitive abilities. The present study is the first to investigate whether the acoustic features of infant cry are associated with cognitive development already during the first year, as measured by oculomotor orienting and attention disengagement. Cry sounds for acoustic analyses (fundamental frequency; F0) were recorded in two neonatal cohorts at the age of 0–8 days (Tampere, Finland) or at 6 weeks (Cape Town, South Africa). Eye tracking was used to measure oculomotor orienting to peripheral visual stimuli and attention disengagement from central stimuli at 8 months (Tampere) or at 6 months (Cape Town) of age. Only a marginal positive correlation between fundamental frequency of cry (F0) and visual attention disengagement was observed in the Tampere cohort, but not in the Cape Town cohort. This correlation indicated that infants from the Tampere cohort with a higher neonatal F0 were marginally slower to shift their gaze away from the central stimulus to the peripheral stimulus. No associations between F0 and oculomotor orienting were observed in either cohort. We discuss possible factors influencing the current pattern of results suggesting a lack of replicable associations between neonatal cry and visual attention and suggest directions for future research investigating the potential of early cry analysis in predicting later cognitive development.

Baby Crying Induces Different Cortical Activation in Mothers with Secure and Insecure Attachment

SYNOPSIS Objective. To characterize electroencephalographic activity (EEG) in mothers with secure (SA) and insecure attachment (IA) while viewing a video of a baby crying (CR). Design. EEGs were recorded in the prefrontal and parietal cortices (related to the processing of relevant stimuli) in first-time, IA (n = 8) and SA (n = 8), mothers while watching and listening to CR. Results. During CR, compared to IA, SA showed a lower absolute power (AP) of the alpha2 and beta1 bands in frontal areas, higher AP of the gamma and delta bands in parietal areas, and higher prefronto-parietal correlation in the fast frequencies. Conclusions. These EEG differences could be related to the greater attention and emotional regulation that SA show in the presence of a baby crying.

Cross-species effect of separation calls: family dogs’ reactions to pup, baby, kitten and artificial sounds

During separation, infants of various species often produce a special call type, the separation cry, which elicits instant response from the caregiver. Ignoring this stimulus might be costly; hence, adults have evolved a sensitivity to infant cries. As the acoustic structure and function of these vocalizations are conserved across mammals, adults might react similarly to heterospecific and conspecific separation calls. The domestic dog, Canis familiaris, is an excellent model to study reactions to heterospecific vocalizations due to their special niche in the human social environment. Through domestication, they have become especially sensitive to human communicative signals, including baby cries. Furthermore, they can share their natural environment with other species such as other pets and livestock, which could also affect their responsiveness towards heterospecific calls. Taking advantage of this potential cross-species sensitivity, we aimed to examine dogs' reactions to infant separation calls of humans and domestic cats, Felis catus, compared to conspecific calls. To explore the effect of novelty and specific acoustic features we also used synthesized cries, which allowed us to look for general rules behind dogs' reactions to heterospecific calls and general acoustic effects functioning across species. After testing 100 dogs with pup cries in a previous study, here we tested another 118 dogs in three groups based on the presented sounds' origin. All stimuli were analysed acoustically; then we tested the effects of the species and acoustic features on the dogs’ behaviours. Dogs reacted to pup and artificial cries the fastest, and baby cries the slowest, while responses to kitten sounds were intermediate. We also found general acoustic effects: tonality-related parameters extensively affected the reactions. Higher noisiness caused faster speaker and owner orientation, but it seems that species-specific cues might overwrite the general acoustic rules that appear across mammal separation calls.