German Researcher Decodes Newborn Cries to Study Pre-Speech Development
By
Sophie Hardach
2d ago· 2 min readenNews
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Summary
This article profiles Dr. Kathleen Wermke, a German researcher at Würzburg University Clinic who studies newborn cries to understand pre-speech development. It describes her recording a 4-day-old baby named Joris in a hospital room, as part of her pioneering research into what infant cries reveal about early language development. The piece highlights her work decoding the melodic patterns and acoustic features of newborn cries, suggesting that babies may cry with language-specific intonation patterns influenced by the language their mothers speak during pregnancy.
Key quotes
· 2 pulledIn a sunny hospital room in the German university town of Würzburg one recent afternoon, Dr. Kathleen Wermke positioned her microphone next to the tiny red face of a 4-day-old named Joris.
Dr. Kathleen Wermke, head of Würzburg University Clinic's Center for Pre-Speech Development and Developmental Disorders, records baby sounds from 6-month-old Lara in a sound booth at her lab.
A pioneering German researcher decodes newborns’ cries. Here’s what they reveal.
