ABSTRACT
A crying baby can cause parents great anxiety and stress. The tone of the cry, the length of time spent crying, and the ability to modify it all influence parents’ feelings and reactions. Research studies have examined the acoustic features of babies’ cries as an aid in diagnosis of organic disorder (Wasz-Höckert et al. 1985), adults’ feelings and perceptions of babies’ cries (Boukydis 1985; Murray 1985; Lounsbury and Bates 1982), and the effect of babies’ cries on parents’ behaviour (Donovan and Leavitt 1985; Frodi 1985).
