Infant cries convey both stable and dynamic information about age and identity

What information is encoded in the cries of human babies? While it is widely recognized that cries can encode distress levels, whether cries reliably encode the cause of crying remains disputed. Here, we collected 39201 cries from 24 babies recorded in their homes long-itudinally, from 15 days to 3.5 months of age, a database we share publicly for reuse. Based on the parental action that stopped the crying, which matched the parental evaluation of cry cause in 75% of cases, each cry was classified as caused by discomfort, hunger, or isolation. Our analyses show that baby cries provide reliable information about age and identity. Baby voices become more tonal and less shrill with age, while individual acoustic signatures drift throughout the first months of life. In contrast, neither machine learning algorithms nor trained adult listeners can reliably recognize the causes of crying.

Marguerite Lockhart-Bouron, Andrey Anikin, Katarzyna Pisanski, Siloé Corvin, Clément Cornec, Léo Papet, Florence Levréro, Camille Fauchon, Hugues Patural, David Reby, Nicolas Mathevon