Work

Preterm birth is associated with an increased fundamental frequency of spontaneous crying in human infants at term-equivalent age

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: Human infant crying has been researched as a non-invasive tool for assessing neurophysiological states at an early developmental stage. Little is known about the acoustic features of spontaneous cries in preterm infants, although their pain-induced cries are at a higher fundamental frequency (F0) before term-equivalent age. In this study, we investigated the effects of gestational age, body size at recording and intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) on the F0 of spontaneous cries in healthy preterm and full-term infants at term-equivalent age. We found that shorter gestational age was significantly associated with higher F0, although neither smaller body size at recording nor IUGR was related to increased F0 in preterm infants. These findings suggest that the increased F0 of spontaneous cries is not caused by their smaller body size, but instead might be caused by more complicated neurophysiological states owing to their different intrauterine and extrauterine experiences.

Source: Biology Letters

DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2014.0350

Authors: Yuta Shinya, Masahiko Kawai, Fusako Niwa, Masako Myowa-Yamakoshi

Institutions: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Kyoto University

Language: English

Topic: Infant Health and Development

Subfield: Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology