Newborn Infant Cry Research Articles

An Efficient Classification of Neonates Cry Using Extreme Gradient Boosting-Assisted Grouped-Support-Vector Network.

The cry is a loud, high pitched verbal communication of infants. The very high fundamental frequency and resonance frequency characterize a neonatal infant cry having certain sudden variations. Furthermore, in a tiny duration solitary utterance, the cry signal also possesses both voiced and unvoiced features. Mostly, infants communicate with their caretakers through cries, and sometimes, it becomes difficult for the caretakers to comprehend the reason behind the newborn infant cry. As a result, this research proposes a novel work for classifying the newborn infant cries under three groups such as hunger, sleep, and discomfort. For each crying frame, twelve features get extracted through acoustic feature engineering, and the variable selection using random forests was used for selecting the highly discriminative features among the twelve time and frequency domain features. Subsequently, the extreme gradient boosting-powered grouped-support-vector network is deployed for neonate cry classification. The empirical results show that the proposed method could effectively classify the neonate cries under three different groups. The finest experimental results showed a mean accuracy of around 91% for most scenarios, and this exhibits the potential of the proposed extreme gradient boosting-powered grouped-support-vector network in neonate cry classification. Also, the proposed method has a fast recognition rate of 27 seconds in the identification of these emotional cries.

Explaining individual variation in paternal brain responses to infant cries

Crying is the principal means by which newborn infants shape parental behavior to meet their needs. While this mechanism can be highly effective, infant crying can also be an aversive stimulus that leads to parental frustration and even abuse. Fathers have recently become more involved in direct caregiving activities in modern, developed nations, and fathers are more likely than mothers to physically abuse infants. In this study, we attempt to explain variation in the neural response to infant crying among human fathers, with the hope of identifying factors that are associated with a more or less sensitive response. We imaged brain function in 39 first-time fathers of newborn infants as they listened to both their own and a standardized unknown infant cry stimulus, as well as auditory control stimuli, and evaluated whether these neural responses were correlated with measured characteristics of fathers and infants that were hypothesized to modulate these responses. Fathers also provided subjective ratings of each cry stimulus on multiple dimensions. Fathers showed widespread activation to both own and unknown infant cries in neural systems involved in empathy and approach motivation. There was no significant difference in the neural response to the own vs. unknown infant cry, and many fathers were unable to distinguish between the two cries. Comparison of these results with previous studies in mothers revealed a high degree of similarity between first-time fathers and first-time mothers in the pattern of neural activation to newborn infant cries. Further comparisons suggested that younger infant age was associated with stronger paternal neural responses, perhaps due to hormonal or novelty effects. In our sample, older fathers found infant cries less aversive and had an attenuated response to infant crying in both the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the anterior insula, suggesting that compared with younger fathers, older fathers may be better able to avoid the distress associated with empathic over-arousal in response to infant cries. A principal components analysis revealed that fathers with more negative emotional reactions to the unknown infant cry showed decreased activation in the thalamus and caudate nucleus, regions expected to promote positive parental behaviors, as well as increased activation in the hypothalamus and dorsal ACC, again suggesting that empathic over-arousal might result in negative emotional reactions to infant crying. In sum, our findings suggest that infant age, paternal age and paternal emotional reactions to infant crying all modulate the neural response of fathers to infant crying. By identifying neural correlates of variation in paternal subjective reactions to infant crying, these findings help lay the groundwork for evaluating the effectiveness of interventions designed to increase paternal sensitivity and compassion.

Methylation of the Glucocorticoid Receptor (NR3C1) in Placenta Is Associated with Infant Cry Acoustics.

Epigenetic mechanisms regulating expression of the glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1) promoter may influence behavioral and biological aspects of stress response in human infants. Acoustic features of infant crying are an indicator of neurobehavioral and neurological status not yet investigated in relation to epigenetic mechanisms. We examined NR3C1 methylation in placental tissue from a series of 120 healthy newborn infants in relation to a detailed set of acoustic features extracted from newborn infant cries. We identified significant associations of NR3C1 methylation with energy variation in infants' cries as well as with the presence of very high fundamental frequency in cry utterances. The presence of high fundamental frequency in cry (above 1 kHz) has been linked to poor vocal tract control, poor regulation of stress response, and may be an indicator or poor neurobehavioral integrity. Thus, these results add to evidence linking epigenetic alteration of the NR3C1 gene in the placenta to neurodevelopmental features in infants.

Acoustic measures of the cry characteristics of healthy newborns and newborns with pathologies

Several hypotheses have been formulated as a result of observing spectrograms of the audio signals of the newborn infant cry in numerous studies. Our study is based on a few of these hypotheses. The purpose of this article is to differentiate pathological crying from healthy crying through acoustic cry analysis based on neurophysiological parameters of newborns. The automatic estimation of the characteristics of relevant cry signals, such as phonation, hyperphonation, and dysphonation, expressed as percentages, as well as unvoiced sound and mode change percentages, have enabled us to distinguish among the pathologies selected for this study. The results obtained have helped us to make quantitative associations between cry characteristics and pathological conditions affecting newborns.

Central blood oxygen saturation vs crying in preterm newborns

Infant cry characteristics reflect the development and possibly the integrity of the central nervous system. This study evaluates the distress occurring during cry in preterm newborn infants, as related to decrease of central blood oxygenation. A recording system was developed, that allows synchronised, non-invasive monitoring of blood oxygenation and audio recordings of newborn infant's cry. Cry episodes were identified by an automatic system allowing further analysis of the changes induced by the cry episodes on the oxygen saturation level in the central nervous system. Specifically, decrease in the oxygenation level appears during a cry episode, followed by recovery of the oxygenation after the cry episode is over. In the present work we compare a group of preterm infants with a control group of full term newborns in order to detect possible differences between the two sets of patients. Results indicate that a similar decrease in oxygenation level occurs in both groups of patients, but the recovery time after the crying episode is more stable and rapid in full term newborns than in preterm ones. This could prove useful for clinicians and nurses in the prevention of developmental diseases for this class of patients.

High-resolution cry analysis in preterm newborn infants

Infant monitoring is a common procedure in clinical practice in neonatal critical care units. A number of vital functions are monitored, such as heart beat, breathing, blood flow, etc. Specifically, preterm and/or low-birth-weight infants often present respiratory problems that require monitoring. These may range from insufficient ventilation to apnoea. One of the most common events that may affect the respiratory flow is crying, a physiological action made by the infant to communicate and draw attention, but, for a preterm infant, this action requires great effort, which may cause distress and even may have an adverse impact on blood oxygenation. Acoustic analysis of newborn infant cry is thus of importance, since it is related to other basic neuro-physiological parameters. Being easy to perform, cheap and completely non-invasive, it can be successfully applied in many circumstances. The newborn infant cry is characterised by very high fundamental frequency ( F 0) and resonance frequency (RFs) values, with abrupt changes and voiced/unvoiced features of very short duration in a single utterance. To deal with such signals, a new user-friendly software tool has been developed, that allows robust tracking of main acoustic parameters on very short and time-varying signal frames. The software developed provides the user with a high-resolution picture of the cry signal characteristics.

The effect of positioning on infant cries: Implications for sudden infant death syndrome

A definitive cause for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) has not yet been identified, but some theories point to laryngeal or respiratory causes, in addition to theories of reduced arousal or reduced autonomic response. The occurrence of SIDS has dropped since the movement to place newborns to sleep in the supine position; however, some research has found a respiratory disadvantage for infants in this position. The current paper studied acoustic characteristics of infant pain cries to determine the potential differences related to prone versus supine positioning. Fifty-one newborn infant cries were recorded during and following a blood draw screening procedure, with infants placed either in the supine or prone position. All infants were healthy, full-term infants. Complete crying episodes were audio-recorded, and results were based on compositional analysis and long-time average spectrum analysis across each crying episode. Spectral analysis revealed acoustic differences related to infant positioning, and acoustic analysis also revealed that there were no respiratory differences between supine-positioned and prone-positioned infants. Overall, the acoustic differences suggest decreased arousal and/or a decreased response to pain for healthy infants recorded in the prone position. As decreased arousal and prone positioning have been seen as possible causative factors for SIDS, the current results are seen as a successful step in evaluating the possibility of using acoustic analysis of infant cries as a means of evaluating SIDS risk for healthy infants.

Newborn infants' cry after heel-prick: analysis with sound spectrogram

The aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that a newborn infant's cry can be used in conjunction with an instrument to measure pain. Crying due to pain was analysed after a heel-prick stimulus. In a prospective, descriptive study, 50 healthy newborn infants were subjected to a heel-prick for phenylketonuria screening. Their cries of pain were recorded and analysed. Duration of the crying sound was analysed and, using a sound spectrogram, the fundamental frequency and the cry melody of the first five cry sounds were analysed. The analysis showed that the crying sound after the painful stimulus of the heel-prick had a significantly higher fundamental frequency and lasted longer at the first than at the fifth cry. The first cry had a more varied crying melody than the fifth. There were large differences between individual cries from a single infant, as well as in the duration of each cry, total crying time, and fundamental frequencies between infants. While the first cry was more like a cry of pain, the fifth cry more resembled crying for reasons other than pain. The results suggest that newborn infants react to pain in a recognizable way. However, other stimuli may cause a similar reaction. Crying can therefore be used to measure pain in newborn infants only when the cause of crying is known.

Acoustic analysis of newborn infant cry signals

This paper aims at estimating the fundamental frequency (pitch) and the vocal tract resonant frequencies (formants) from new-born infant cry signals. Such parameters are of interest in exploring brain function at early stages of child development, for the timely diagnosis of neonatal disease and malformation. The paper compares a spectral parametric technique and the cepstrum approach, extending previous results. The parametric technique is based on autoregressive models whose order is adaptively estimated on subsequent signal frames by means of a new method. This allows the correct tracking of pitch and formant variations with time. The traditional cepstrum approach is modified in order to follow signal variability. In particular, the cepstrum spectral resolution is improved by applying the chirp Z-transform (CZT) and by adaptively varying the `lifter' length. The two methods are tested on simulated data, as far as robustness to noise and spectral resolution are concerned, and are then applied to real baby cry data.

Enhanced Estimation of Speech Formants in Newborn Infant Cry

This paper addresses the issue of correctly estimating the peaks in the speech envelope of newborn infant cry signals. This method can be applied to explore brain function at early stages of child development for timely diagnosis of neonatal disease and malfonnation. The paper focuses on the performance comparison between a spectral parametric technique and the cepstrum approach. The parametric technique is based on autoregressive models whose order is adaptively estimated by means of a new technique. The cepstrum spectral resolution was improved by the Chirp Zeta Transform. The two methods were applied both to simulated and real data.

Parametric and non-parametric estimation of speech formants: application to infant cry

The present paper addresses the issue of correctly estimating the peaks in the speech envelope (formants) occurring in newborn infant cry. Clinical studies have shown that the analysis of such spectral characteristics is a helpful noninvasive diagnostic tool. In fact it can be applied to explore brain function at very early stages of child development, for a timely diagnosis of neonatal disease and malformation. The paper focuses on the performance comparison between some classical parametric and non-parametric estimation techniques particularly well suited for the present application, specifically the LP, ARX and cepstrum approaches. It is shown that, if the model order is correctly chosen, parametric methods are in general more reliable and robust against noise, but exhibit a less uniform behaviour than cepstrum. The methods are compared also in terms of tracking capability, since the signals under study are nonstationary. Both simulated and real signals are used in order to outline the relevant features of the proposed approaches.

Analysis of rough voice from a nonlinear dynamics point of view

Because the vocal folds are nonlinear systems with many degrees of freedom, bifurcations and chaos should be expected for certain parameter configurations. Indeed, bifurcations and chaos appear in some of the simplest models of vocal fold vibration. They are also seen in more complex models, in models that incorporate left–right asymmetries, and in biomechanical simulations of vocal fold oscillations. Furthermore, an acoustical analysis of many types of rough voice (e.g., creaky voice, vocal fry, and newborn infant cries) reveals an intimate relationship between voice mechanics and bifurcations and chaos. Likely physiological mechanisms of the observed nonlinear phenomena are presented. Basic concepts and analysis techniques from nonlinear dynamics are reviewed and compared with traditional voice analysis schemes. Finally, it is shown how much of the terminology in the literature describing rough voice can be unified within the framework of nonlinear dynamics. [This research was supported by Grant. No. P60 DC00976 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.]

Child abusers' perceptual responses to newborn infant cries varying in pitch

Twenty abusive and 20 comparison parents rated three groups of infant cries that varied in the amount of high-pitched hyperphonation contained in the acoustic structure. Analyses showed that as the amount of hyperphonation increased across groups of cries, cries were rated by both groups of parents as more likely to lead to the future abuse of the infant. Abusive parents found hyperphonated cries, but not phonated cries, to be more similar to their own abused infant's cries than comparison parents. Attributions regarding whether each cry was from an infant who had previously been abused were then experimentally manipulated and cries were rated on live perceptual scale items. Abusive and comparison parents found hyperphonated cries to be generally more distressing, sick, and urgent than cries with less hyperphonation. Attributing the cry to a previously abused infant, however, resulted in the infant being perceived as generally sounding more sick and less spoiled. Phonated and partially hyperphonated cries were regarded as more arousing and distressing when attributed to abused infants. Unlike comparison parents, abusive parents did not differentiate between phonated and partially hyperphonated cries on ratings of urgency but found hyperphonated cries to be particularly urgent. Crying is discussed as one part of the infant's behavioral repertoire that may contribute to the development of physically abusive parent-infant interactions.

Bifurcations and chaos in newborn infant cries

Several cries of newborn infants are analyzed using computer spectrograms and methods from nonlinear dynamics. A rich variety of bifurcations (e.g. period doubling) and episodes of irregular behaviour are observed. Poincaré sections and the analysis of the underlying attractor suggest that these noise-like episodes are low-dimensional deterministic chaos. Possible implications for the very early diagnosis of brain disorders are discussed.

The Relation between Variations in Pitch and Maternal Perceptions of Infant Crying

ZESKIND, PHILIP SANFORD, and MARSHALL, TIMOTHY R. The Relation between Variations in Pitch and Maternal Perceptions of Infant Crying. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1988, 59, 193-196. The relation between aspects of the fundamental frequency (basic pitch) of 16 newborn infant cries and 28 multiparous mothers' perceptions of those cries was examined. Mothers rated the tape-recorded pain cries of 16 newborn infants on 4 7-point Likert-type scale items. 3 measures were extracted from each of the 16 cry sounds by spectrum analysis: mean fundamental frequency, standard deviation of the fundamental frequency, and peak fundamental frequency. All 3 cry features were positively correlated to all 4 rating scale items. Multiple regression analyses showed that the mean fundamental frequency best predicted how urgent, arousing, and distressing the cries were perceived to be. The standard deviation of the fundamental frequency was the best predictor of how sick the infant sounded. These results support the hypothesis that increases in fundamental frequency are related to increases in maternal perceptions of the intensity of the infant's cry, and that different aspects of the basic pitch best convey different messages to the caregiving environment.

Newborn Infant Cry in Relation to Nonhuman Primate Vocalizations

Cries were recorded from 20 normal newborn infants from birth to the fourth day of life. Sound spectrograms and oscillograms showed that these cries were similar to the vocalizations of nonhuman primates insofar as the infants seemed to produce these sounds by means of a uniform-cross-section, schwalike, vocal-tract configuration. Under certain conditions, the laryngeal excitation was breathy and the formant frequencies corresponding to an open boundary condition at the glottis were generated. The spectrograms reported by Truby, Bosma, and Lind [Newborn Infant Cry] can be similarly interpreted, although they do not do so. Furthermore, their simultaneous x-ray motion pictures show a rigid supraglottal tract during cry, as we hypothesize. The question now is to determine when infant vocalizations become more complex than the basic primate cry. When and under what conditions do infants go beyond the nonhuman stage?

Newborn Infant Cry (Supplement 163).

Certain advances in physiology influence psychiatric progress. Dr. Lind's monograph reports the finding of acoustically distinctive cry patterns associated with arousal states in infancy. This has great relevance for human behavior research. Newborn Infant Cry , contains four papers about the study of cry and related upper respiratory actions conducted at the Karolinska Children's Hospital in Stockholm. The investigators treated cry as a specific performance of the newborn and correlated its audible, kinetic, and respiratory features. The first paper, written by Henry M. Truby, PhD, describes the acoustic analysis of rousal cries produced by 30 newborns after being pinched. Cries were collected with a laryngeal contact microphone and then analyzed sonagraphically and with a directwriting oscillograph. Simultaneous x-ray movies provided data about the motor activity of valved respiration. Three primary sorts of cry-sound were identified: (1) phonation , a simple, symmetrical, tonal basic cry which registers mild