Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 February 2005
The signal functions of infant crying cannot be understood properly without due attention to their ontogenetic development. Based on our own research on the development of infant cries, we argue that the controversies in cry literature will not be solved by static models, but that progress will made only when considering ontogenetic changes in interpreting cry data.
1. Spontaneous cries of the twins were recorded several times during their stay at the hospital. Recordings were repeated in six-week intervals (_/_ 2 weeks) in the home environment. In total, 1,100 cry signals of infants between birth and the 16th week of life were investigated and cries containing large regions of subharmonics or noise were excluded from the melody analysis (N_386). The remaining 714 cry melodies could be assigned to melody types (single- vs. multiple-arc-melodies). Spectral analysis and melody computations were made using a CSL-Speech Lab 4300/ MDVP (Kay Elemetrics).