IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nathum/v6y2022i11d10.1038_s41562-022-01410-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Acoustic regularities in infant-directed speech and song across cultures

Author

Listed:
  • Courtney B. Hilton

    (Harvard University
    Yale University)

  • Cody J. Moser

    (Harvard University
    University of California, Merced)

  • Mila Bertolo

    (Harvard University)

  • Harry Lee-Rubin

    (Harvard University)

  • Dorsa Amir

    (Boston College Department of Psychology)

  • Constance M. Bainbridge

    (Harvard University
    University of California, Los Angeles)

  • Jan Simson

    (Harvard University
    University of Amsterdam)

  • Dean Knox

    (The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania)

  • Luke Glowacki

    (Boston University)

  • Elias Alemu

    (Jinka University)

  • Andrzej Galbarczyk

    (Jagiellonian University Medical College)

  • Grazyna Jasienska

    (Jagiellonian University Medical College)

  • Cody T. Ross

    (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology)

  • Mary Beth Neff

    (Victoria University of Wellington
    University of Oslo)

  • Alia Martin

    (Victoria University of Wellington)

  • Laura K. Cirelli

    (University of Toronto, Scarborough
    University of Toronto, Mississauga)

  • Sandra E. Trehub

    (University of Toronto, Mississauga)

  • Jinqi Song

    (University of California, Los Angeles)

  • Minju Kim

    (University of California, San Diego)

  • Adena Schachner

    (University of California, San Diego)

  • Tom A. Vardy

    (University of Auckland)

  • Quentin D. Atkinson

    (University of Auckland
    Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology)

  • Amanda Salenius

    (Åbo Akademi)

  • Jannik Andelin

    (Åbo Akademi)

  • Jan Antfolk

    (Åbo Akademi)

  • Purnima Madhivanan

    (College of Public Health, University of Arizona
    College of Medicine, University of Arizona
    College of Medicine, University of Arizona
    Public Health Research Institute of India)

  • Anand Siddaiah

    (Public Health Research Institute of India)

  • Caitlyn D. Placek

    (Ball State University)

  • Gul Deniz Salali

    (University College, London)

  • Sarai Keestra

    (University College, London
    Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam)

  • Manvir Singh

    (Harvard University
    Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse)

  • Scott A. Collins

    (Arizona State University)

  • John Q. Patton

    (California State University)

  • Camila Scaff

    (University of Zurich)

  • Jonathan Stieglitz

    (Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse
    Université Toulouse)

  • Silvia Ccari Cutipa

    (Universidad Nacional del Altiplano Puno)

  • Cristina Moya

    (University of California, Davis
    Brunel University, London)

  • Rohan R. Sagar

    (Future Generations University
    Harpy Eagle Music Foundation)

  • Mariamu Anyawire

    (Mang’ola)

  • Audax Mabulla

    (University of Dar es Salaam)

  • Brian M. Wood

    (University of California, Los Angeles)

  • Max M. Krasnow

    (Harvard University
    Harvard University)

  • Samuel A. Mehr

    (Harvard University
    Yale University
    Harvard University)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Courtney B. Hilton & Cody J. Moser & Mila Bertolo & Harry Lee-Rubin & Dorsa Amir & Constance M. Bainbridge & Jan Simson & Dean Knox & Luke Glowacki & Elias Alemu & Andrzej Galbarczyk & Grazyna Jasiens, 2022. "Acoustic regularities in infant-directed speech and song across cultures," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(11), pages 1545-1556, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:6:y:2022:i:11:d:10.1038_s41562-022-01410-x
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-022-01410-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-022-01410-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41562-022-01410-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nori Jacoby & Rainer Polak & Jessica A. Grahn & Daniel J. Cameron & Kyung Myun Lee & Ricardo Godoy & Eduardo A. Undurraga & Tomás Huanca & Timon Thalwitzer & Noumouké Doumbia & Daniel Goldberg & Eliza, 2024. "Commonality and variation in mental representations of music revealed by a cross-cultural comparison of rhythm priors in 15 countries," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 8(5), pages 846-877, May.
    2. Philippe Albouy & Samuel A. Mehr & Roxane S. Hoyer & Jérémie Ginzburg & Yi Du & Robert J. Zatorre, 2024. "Spectro-temporal acoustical markers differentiate speech from song across cultures," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Sam Passmore & Anna L. C. Wood & Chiara Barbieri & Dor Shilton & Hideo Daikoku & Quentin D. Atkinson & Patrick E. Savage, 2024. "Global musical diversity is largely independent of linguistic and genetic histories," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:6:y:2022:i:11:d:10.1038_s41562-022-01410-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.