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 Schachner; Tom 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

doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01410-x

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 journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

47 Citations (Scopus)

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 language	English
Pages (from-to)	1545-1556
Number of pages	12
Journal	Nature Human Behaviour
Volume	6
Issue number	11
Early online date	2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01410-x
Publication status	Published - Nov 2022

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Hilton, C. B., Moser, C. J., Bertolo, M., Lee-Rubin, H., Amir, D., Bainbridge, C. M., Simson, J., Knox, D., Glowacki, L., Alemu, E., Galbarczyk, A., Jasienska, G., Ross, C. T., Neff, M. B., Martin, A., Cirelli, L. K., Trehub, S. E., Song, J., Kim, M., ... Mehr, S. A. (2022). Acoustic regularities in infant-directed speech and song across cultures. Nature Human Behaviour, 6(11), 1545-1556. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01410-x

@article{9d95be67218b45529c96517b3ca10232,

title = "Acoustic regularities in infant-directed speech and song across cultures",

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.",

author = "Hilton, {Courtney B.} and Moser, {Cody J.} and Mila Bertolo and Harry Lee-Rubin and Dorsa Amir and Bainbridge, {Constance M.} and Jan Simson and Dean Knox and Luke Glowacki and Elias Alemu and Andrzej Galbarczyk and Grazyna Jasienska and Ross, {Cody T.} and Neff, {Mary Beth} and Alia Martin and Cirelli, {Laura K.} and Trehub, {Sandra E.} and Jinqi Song and Minju Kim and Adena Schachner and Vardy, {Tom A.} and Atkinson, {Quentin D.} and Amanda Salenius and Jannik Andelin and Jan Antfolk and Purnima Madhivanan and Anand Siddaiah and Placek, {Caitlyn D.} and Salali, {Gul Deniz} and Sarai Keestra and Manvir Singh and Collins, {Scott A.} and Patton, {John Q.} and Camila Scaff and Jonathan Stieglitz and Cutipa, {Silvia Ccari} and Cristina Moya and Sagar, {Rohan R.} and Mariamu Anyawire and Audax Mabulla and Wood, {Brian M.} and Krasnow, {Max M.} and Mehr, {Samuel A.}",

note = "Funding Information: This research was supported by the Harvard University Department of Psychology (M.M.K. and S.A.M.); the Harvard College Research Program (H.L.-R.); the Harvard Data Science Initiative (S.A.M.); the National Institutes of Health Director{\textquoteright}s Early Independence Award DP5OD024566 (S.A.M. and C.B.H.); the Academy of Finland grant no. 298513 (J. Antfolk); the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Aparangi Rutherford Discovery Fellowship RDF-UOA1101 (Q.D.A. and T.A.V.); the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (L.K.C.); the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education grant no. N43/DBS/000068 (G.J.); the Fogarty International Center (P.M., A. Siddaiah and C.D.P.); the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke award no. D43 TW010540 (P.M. and A. Siddaiah); the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases award no. R15-AI128714-01 (P.M.); the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (C.T.R. and C.M.); a British Academy Research Fellowship and grant no. SRG-171409 (G.D.S.); the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, under an Agence nationale de la recherche grant, Investissements d{\textquoteright}Avenir ANR-17-EURE-0010 (L.G. and J. Stieglitz); the Fondation Pierre Mercier pour la Science (C.S.); and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (S.E.T.). We thank the participants and their families for providing recordings; L. Sugiyama for supporting pilot data collection; J. Du, E. Pillsworth, P. Wiessner and J. Ziker for collecting or attempting to collect additional recordings; N. Nicolas for research assistance in the Republic of the Congo; Z. Jurewicz for research assistance in Toronto; M. Delfi and R. Sakaliou for research assistance in Indonesia; W. Naiou and A. Altrin for research assistance in Vanuatu; S. Atwood, A. Bergson, D. Li, L. Lopez and E. Radytė for project-wide research assistance; and J. Kominsky, L. Powell and L. Yurdum for feedback on the manuscript. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. Funding Information: This research was supported by the Harvard University Department of Psychology (M.M.K. and S.A.M.); the Harvard College Research Program (H.L.-R.); the Harvard Data Science Initiative (S.A.M.); the National Institutes of Health Director{\textquoteright}s Early Independence Award DP5OD024566 (S.A.M. and C.B.H.); the Academy of Finland grant no. 298513 (J. Antfolk); the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Aparangi Rutherford Discovery Fellowship RDF-UOA1101 (Q.D.A. and T.A.V.); the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (L.K.C.); the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education grant no. N43/DBS/000068 (G.J.); the Fogarty International Center (P.M., A. Siddaiah and C.D.P.); the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke award no. D43 TW010540 (P.M. and A. Siddaiah); the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases award no. R15-AI128714-01 (P.M.); the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (C.T.R. and C.M.); a British Academy Research Fellowship and grant no. SRG-171409 (G.D.S.); the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, under an Agence nationale de la recherche grant, Investissements d{\textquoteright}Avenir ANR-17-EURE-0010 (L.G. and J. Stieglitz); the Fondation Pierre Mercier pour la Science (C.S.); and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (S.E.T.). We thank the participants and their families for providing recordings; L. Sugiyama for supporting pilot data collection; J. Du, E. Pillsworth, P. Wiessner and J. Ziker for collecting or attempting to collect additional recordings; N. Nicolas for research assistance in the Republic of the Congo; Z. Jurewicz for research assistance in Toronto; M. Delfi and R. Sakaliou for research assistance in Indonesia; W. Naiou and A. Altrin for research assistance in Vanuatu; S. Atwood, A. Bergson, D. Li, L. Lopez and E. Radytė for project-wide research assistance; and J. Kominsky, L. Powell and L. Yurdum for feedback on the manuscript. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.",

year = "2022",

month = nov,

doi = "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01410-x",

language = "English",

volume = "6",

pages = "1545--1556",

journal = "Nature Human Behaviour",

issn = "2397-3374",

publisher = "Springer Nature",

number = "11",

}

Hilton, CB, Moser, CJ, Bertolo, M, Lee-Rubin, H, Amir, D, Bainbridge, CM, Simson, J, Knox, D, Glowacki, L, Alemu, E, Galbarczyk, A, Jasienska, G, Ross, CT, Neff, MB, Martin, A, Cirelli, LK, Trehub, SE, Song, J, Kim, M, Schachner, A, Vardy, TA, Atkinson, QD, Salenius, A, Andelin, J, Antfolk, J, Madhivanan, P, Siddaiah, A, Placek, CD, Salali, GD, Keestra, S, Singh, M, Collins, SA, Patton, JQ, Scaff, C, Stieglitz, J, Cutipa, SC, Moya, C, Sagar, RR, Anyawire, M, Mabulla, A, Wood, BM, Krasnow, MM & Mehr, SA 2022, 'Acoustic regularities in infant-directed speech and song across cultures', Nature Human Behaviour, vol. 6, no. 11, pp. 1545-1556. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01410-x

TY - JOUR

T1 - Acoustic regularities in infant-directed speech and song across cultures

AU - Hilton, Courtney B.

AU - Moser, Cody J.

AU - Bertolo, Mila

AU - Lee-Rubin, Harry

AU - Amir, Dorsa

AU - Bainbridge, Constance M.

AU - Simson, Jan

AU - Knox, Dean

AU - Glowacki, Luke

AU - Alemu, Elias

AU - Galbarczyk, Andrzej

AU - Jasienska, Grazyna

AU - Ross, Cody T.

AU - Neff, Mary Beth

AU - Martin, Alia

AU - Cirelli, Laura K.

AU - Trehub, Sandra E.

AU - Song, Jinqi

AU - Kim, Minju

AU - Schachner, Adena

AU - Vardy, Tom A.

AU - Atkinson, Quentin D.

AU - Salenius, Amanda

AU - Andelin, Jannik

AU - Antfolk, Jan

AU - Madhivanan, Purnima

AU - Siddaiah, Anand

AU - Placek, Caitlyn D.

AU - Salali, Gul Deniz

AU - Keestra, Sarai

AU - Singh, Manvir

AU - Collins, Scott A.

AU - Patton, John Q.

AU - Scaff, Camila

AU - Stieglitz, Jonathan

AU - Cutipa, Silvia Ccari

AU - Moya, Cristina

AU - Sagar, Rohan R.

AU - Anyawire, Mariamu

AU - Mabulla, Audax

AU - Wood, Brian M.

AU - Krasnow, Max M.

AU - Mehr, Samuel A.

N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by the Harvard University Department of Psychology (M.M.K. and S.A.M.); the Harvard College Research Program (H.L.-R.); the Harvard Data Science Initiative (S.A.M.); the National Institutes of Health Director’s Early Independence Award DP5OD024566 (S.A.M. and C.B.H.); the Academy of Finland grant no. 298513 (J. Antfolk); the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Aparangi Rutherford Discovery Fellowship RDF-UOA1101 (Q.D.A. and T.A.V.); the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (L.K.C.); the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education grant no. N43/DBS/000068 (G.J.); the Fogarty International Center (P.M., A. Siddaiah and C.D.P.); the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke award no. D43 TW010540 (P.M. and A. Siddaiah); the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases award no. R15-AI128714-01 (P.M.); the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (C.T.R. and C.M.); a British Academy Research Fellowship and grant no. SRG-171409 (G.D.S.); the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, under an Agence nationale de la recherche grant, Investissements d’Avenir ANR-17-EURE-0010 (L.G. and J. Stieglitz); the Fondation Pierre Mercier pour la Science (C.S.); and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (S.E.T.). We thank the participants and their families for providing recordings; L. Sugiyama for supporting pilot data collection; J. Du, E. Pillsworth, P. Wiessner and J. Ziker for collecting or attempting to collect additional recordings; N. Nicolas for research assistance in the Republic of the Congo; Z. Jurewicz for research assistance in Toronto; M. Delfi and R. Sakaliou for research assistance in Indonesia; W. Naiou and A. Altrin for research assistance in Vanuatu; S. Atwood, A. Bergson, D. Li, L. Lopez and E. Radytė for project-wide research assistance; and J. Kominsky, L. Powell and L. Yurdum for feedback on the manuscript. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. Funding Information: This research was supported by the Harvard University Department of Psychology (M.M.K. and S.A.M.); the Harvard College Research Program (H.L.-R.); the Harvard Data Science Initiative (S.A.M.); the National Institutes of Health Director’s Early Independence Award DP5OD024566 (S.A.M. and C.B.H.); the Academy of Finland grant no. 298513 (J. Antfolk); the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Aparangi Rutherford Discovery Fellowship RDF-UOA1101 (Q.D.A. and T.A.V.); the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (L.K.C.); the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education grant no. N43/DBS/000068 (G.J.); the Fogarty International Center (P.M., A. Siddaiah and C.D.P.); the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke award no. D43 TW010540 (P.M. and A. Siddaiah); the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases award no. R15-AI128714-01 (P.M.); the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (C.T.R. and C.M.); a British Academy Research Fellowship and grant no. SRG-171409 (G.D.S.); the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, under an Agence nationale de la recherche grant, Investissements d’Avenir ANR-17-EURE-0010 (L.G. and J. Stieglitz); the Fondation Pierre Mercier pour la Science (C.S.); and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (S.E.T.). We thank the participants and their families for providing recordings; L. Sugiyama for supporting pilot data collection; J. Du, E. Pillsworth, P. Wiessner and J. Ziker for collecting or attempting to collect additional recordings; N. Nicolas for research assistance in the Republic of the Congo; Z. Jurewicz for research assistance in Toronto; M. Delfi and R. Sakaliou for research assistance in Indonesia; W. Naiou and A. Altrin for research assistance in Vanuatu; S. Atwood, A. Bergson, D. Li, L. Lopez and E. Radytė for project-wide research assistance; and J. Kominsky, L. Powell and L. Yurdum for feedback on the manuscript. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

PY - 2022/11

Y1 - 2022/11

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

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U2 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01410-x

DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01410-x

M3 - Article

C2 - 35851843

SN - 2397-3374

VL - 6

SP - 1545

EP - 1556

JO - Nature Human Behaviour

JF - Nature Human Behaviour

IS - 11

ER -

Acoustic regularities in infant-directed speech and song across cultures

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