Acoustic regularities in infant-directed speech and song across cultures

Courtney Hilton, Cody Moser, Mila Bertolo, Harry Lee-Rubin, Dorsa Amir, Constance Brainbridge, Jan Simson, Dean Knox, Luke Glowacki, Elias Alemu, Andrzej Galbarczyk, Grazyna Jasienska, Cody Ross, Mary Beth Neff, Alia Martin, Laura Cirelli, Sandra Trehub, Jinqi Song, Minju Kim, Adena Schachner, Tom Vardy, Quentin Atkinson, Amanda Salenius, Jannik Andelin, Jan Antfolk, Purnima Madhivanan, Anand Siddaiah, Caitlyn Placek, Gul Deniz Salali, Sarai Keestra, Manvir Singh, Scott Collins, John Patton, Camila Scaff, Jonathan Stieglitz, Silvia Ccari Cutipa, Cristina Moya, Rohan Sagar, Mariamu Anyawire, Audax Mabulla, Brian Wood, Max Krasnow and Samuel Mehr
Additional contact information
Courtney Hilton: Unknown
Cody Moser: Unknown
Mila Bertolo: Unknown
Harry Lee-Rubin: Unknown
Dorsa Amir: Unknown
Constance Brainbridge: Unknown
Jan Simson: Unknown
Dean Knox: Unknown
Luke Glowacki: Unknown
Elias Alemu: Unknown
Andrzej Galbarczyk: Unknown
Grazyna Jasienska: Unknown
Cody Ross: Unknown
Mary Beth Neff: Unknown
Alia Martin: Unknown
Laura Cirelli: Unknown
Sandra Trehub: Unknown
Jinqi Song: Unknown
Minju Kim: Unknown
Adena Schachner: Unknown
Tom Vardy: Unknown
Quentin Atkinson: Unknown
Amanda Salenius: Unknown
Jannik Andelin: Unknown
Jan Antfolk: Unknown
Purnima Madhivanan: Unknown
Anand Siddaiah: Unknown
Caitlyn Placek: Unknown
Gul Deniz Salali: Unknown
Sarai Keestra: Unknown
Manvir Singh: IAST - Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse
Scott Collins: Unknown
John Patton: Unknown
Camila Scaff: Unknown
Jonathan Stieglitz: IAST - Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse
Silvia Ccari Cutipa: Unknown
Cristina Moya: Unknown
Rohan Sagar: Unknown
Mariamu Anyawire: Unknown
Audax Mabulla: Unknown
Brian Wood: Unknown
Max Krasnow: Unknown
Samuel Mehr: Unknown

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Abstract: When interacting with infants, humans often alter their speech and song in ways thought to support communication. Theories of human child-rearing, informed by data on vocal signalling across species, predict that such alterations should appear globally. Here, we show acoustic differences between infant-directed and adult-directed vocalizations across cultures. We collected 1,615 recordings of infant- and adult-directed speech and song produced by 410 people in 21 urban, rural and small-scale societies. Infant-directedness was reliably classified from acoustic features only, with acoustic profiles of infant-directedness differing across language and music but in consistent fashions. We then studied listener sensitivity to these acoustic features. We played the recordings to 51,065 people from 187 countries, recruited via an English-language website, who guessed whether each vocalization was infant-directed. Their intuitions were more accurate than chance, predictable in part by common sets of acoustic features and robust to the effects of linguistic relatedness between vocalizer and listener. These findings inform hypotheses of the psychological functions and evolution of human communication.

Date: 2022-07-18
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Published in Nature Human Behaviour, 2022, ⟨10.1038/s41562-022-01410-x⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03800846

DOI: 10.1038/s41562-022-01410-x

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