There are two things that can be really baffling. The first most baffling thing is for men to figure out what women are thinking and the other most baffling thing is for everyone under the sun to figure out why a baby is crying. The solution for the first might not be forthcoming, but it seems the solution for the second has been found. Basically, man gave up trying to solve this quandary and handed over the task to a computer and just like many of other issues this too seems to have been efficiently solved by our friend with a silicon chip.
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Researchers from Brown University, in collaboration with the U.S. Women & Infants Hospital decided that a computer program would do the best possible task of finding the solution. It seems that the smallest variation in your child’s crying is picked up and deciphered by this program. Scientists say that the variation in a child’s crying can give a clear indication of what a child is thinking. The program is said to read more than 80 variations in a child’s crying that can range from the volume of the crying to its frequency and everything in between.
An assistant professor of psychiatry and human behaviour from Brown University Stephen Sheynkopf says that there are a number of diseases that can cause the variation in crying. According to him crying analysis that be a really effective, reliable and non-invasive method of determining abnormalities in the neurobiological system of a baby. Soon something called an automatic crying analyser will be made widely available and will help us unravel the mysteries of a baby’s crying.
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Interestingly enough, way back in 2009 iPhone had come up with an app, which worked somewhat on similar principles, where the variations in a baby’s crying was used by the app to decipher what exactly the baby was feeling. Unlike 80 variations the app deciphered five emotional stages- hunger, fatigue, annoyance, stress or boredom. The app developers had at that point claimed that the app is nearly a hundred percent accurate, but somehow this paid app did not manage to create the buzz it should have. This latest program though seems likes serious business and might really bring about a revolution in the world of paediatrics, if it is as effective as it’s claimed to be.
