{"title":"Fundamental Frequency Contour (Melody) of Infant Vocalizations across the First Year.","authors":"Tabea Kottmann, Maren Wanner, Kathleen Wermke","doi":"10.1159/000528732","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>The fundamental frequency contour (melody) of cry and non-cry utterances becomes more complex with age. However, there is a lack of longitudinal analyses of melody development during the first year of life.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>The aim of the study was to longitudinally analyze melody development in typical vocalization types across the first 12 months of life. The aim was twofold: (1) to answer the question whether melody becomes more complex in all vocalization types with age and (2) to characterize complex patterns in more detail.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Repeatedly recorded vocalizations (n = 10,988) of 10 healthy infants (6 female) over their first year of life were analyzed using frequency spectrograms and fundamental frequency (f0) analyses (PRAAT). Melody complexity analysis was performed using specific in-lab software (CDAP, pw-project) in a final subset of 9,237 utterances that contained noise-free, undisturbed contours. Generalized mixed linear models were used to analyze age and vocalization type effects on melody complexity.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The vocalization repertoire showed a higher proportion of complex melodies from the second month onward. The age effect was significant, but no difference was found in melody complexity between cry and non-cry vocalizations across the first 6 months. From month 7-12, there was a further significant increase in complex structures only in canonical babbling not in marginal babbling. Melody segmentations by laryngeal constrictions prevailed among complex shapes.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The study demonstrated the regularity of melody development in different vocalization types throughout the first year of life. In terms of prosodic features of infant sounds, melody contour is of primary importance, and further studies are required that also include infants at risk for language development.</p>","PeriodicalId":12114,"journal":{"name":"Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1000,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10273904/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1159/000528732","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"AUDIOLOGY & SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: The fundamental frequency contour (melody) of cry and non-cry utterances becomes more complex with age. However, there is a lack of longitudinal analyses of melody development during the first year of life.
Objective: The aim of the study was to longitudinally analyze melody development in typical vocalization types across the first 12 months of life. The aim was twofold: (1) to answer the question whether melody becomes more complex in all vocalization types with age and (2) to characterize complex patterns in more detail.
Methods: Repeatedly recorded vocalizations (n = 10,988) of 10 healthy infants (6 female) over their first year of life were analyzed using frequency spectrograms and fundamental frequency (f0) analyses (PRAAT). Melody complexity analysis was performed using specific in-lab software (CDAP, pw-project) in a final subset of 9,237 utterances that contained noise-free, undisturbed contours. Generalized mixed linear models were used to analyze age and vocalization type effects on melody complexity.
Results: The vocalization repertoire showed a higher proportion of complex melodies from the second month onward. The age effect was significant, but no difference was found in melody complexity between cry and non-cry vocalizations across the first 6 months. From month 7-12, there was a further significant increase in complex structures only in canonical babbling not in marginal babbling. Melody segmentations by laryngeal constrictions prevailed among complex shapes.
Conclusion: The study demonstrated the regularity of melody development in different vocalization types throughout the first year of life. In terms of prosodic features of infant sounds, melody contour is of primary importance, and further studies are required that also include infants at risk for language development.
期刊介绍:
Published since 1947, ''Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica'' provides a forum for international research on the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of structures of the speech, language, and hearing mechanisms. Original papers published in this journal report new findings on basic function, assessment, management, and test development in communication sciences and disorders, as well as experiments designed to test specific theories of speech, language, and hearing function. Review papers of high quality are also welcomed.