Babies' cries give insight into much, including SIDS. (sudden infant death syndrome)

The analysis of infants' crying may have diagnostic utility as a screen for those at risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and for the early detection of infants who may be at risk for poor developmental outcome due to such biological insults as prematurity and prenatal drug exposure.

From a theoretical perspective, infant crying is a biosocial phenomenon. As a biological signal, the cry provides information about the biological integrity of the infant, such as when there has been some insult to the nervous system. As a social signal, crying affects parenting and is one of the ways in which infant characteristics contribute to the developing infant-parent relationship.

Research on the acoustical analysis of infant crying began early this century with the invention of the sound spectrograph, which provided, literally, a picture of the cry from which some quantification was possible. With this technology, it became possible to describe distinct patterns of normal crying, such as the basic, or …