Acoustic regularities in infant-directed speech and song across cultures

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 Jasienska, Cody T. Ross, Mary Beth Neff, Alia Martin, Laura K. Cirelli, Sandra E. Trehub, Jinqi Song, Minju Kim, Adena SchachnerTom A. Vardy, Quentin D. Atkinson, Amanda Salenius, Jannik Andelin, Jan Antfolk, Purnima Madhivanan, Anand Siddaiah, Caitlyn D. Placek, Gul Deniz Salali, Sarai Keestra, Manvir Singh, Scott A. Collins, John Q. Patton, Camila Scaff, Jonathan Stieglitz, Silvia Ccari Cutipa, Cristina Moya, Rohan R. Sagar, Mariamu Anyawire, Audax Mabulla, Brian M. Wood, Max M. Krasnow, Samuel A. Mehr

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

61 Scopus citations

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.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1545-1556
Number of pages12
JournalNature Human Behaviour
Volume6
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2022

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
  • Behavioral Neuroscience

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