Vocal affect in three-year-olds: a quantitative acoustic analysis of child laughter.

Recordings were obtained of the laughter vocalizations of four 3-year-old children during three sessions of spontaneous free-play between mother and child in a laboratory playroom. Acoustic analysis was used to determine laughter durations, laughter events, F0, and harmonic characteristics, and to suggest a taxonomy of laughter types. Melodic contours were assessed from patterns of F0 change during laughter. Mean duration of laughs ranged from 200 ms to 2.0 s, but events within a laugh were usually about 200-ms duration. Laughs were intuitively classified into four major types, and, following the acoustic analyses, were further defined and classified into types and subtypes of exclamatory and dull comment; chuckle; basic, variable, and classical rhythmical; and squeal. Melodic contours included more rising contours than previously reported for cry, but there was great variability in the types of contours produced especially for rhythmical laughs. The results of the acoustic analyses are discussed in relation to (a) the development of a taxonomy of laughter and (b) different features of the vocal affect characteristics of high-intensity emotion.

[1]  J. Lind,et al.  CRY SOUNDS OF THE NEWBORN INFANT 1, 2 , 1965 .

[2]  I. Hirsh,et al.  Development of speech sounds in children. , 1969, Acta oto-laryngologica. Supplementum.

[3]  J. Lind,et al.  The Infant Cry. A Spectrographic and Auditory Analysis , 1969 .

[4]  K. Stevens,et al.  Emotions and speech: some acoustical correlates. , 1972, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[5]  P. Ekman.  Unmasking The Face , 1975 .

[6]  George A. F. Seber,et al.  Linear regression analysis , 1977 .

[7]  M. Brennan,et al.  Classification of infant cries using descriptive scales , 1982 .

[8]  B. Lester,et al.  A Biobehavioral Perspective on Crying in Early Infancy , 1982 .

[9]  D. Cicchetti,et al.  Perspectives on an integrated theory of emotional development , 1982 .

[10]  Raymond D. Kent,et al.  Acoustic features of infant vocalic utterances at 3, 6, and 9 months. , 1982, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[11]  J. Ohala.  Cross-Language Use of Pitch: An Ethological View , 1983, Phonetica.

[12]  Raymond D. Kent,et al.  The Segmental Organization of Speech , 1983 .

[13]  G. Gustafson,et al.  Acoustic correlates of individuality in the cries of human infants. , 1984, Developmental psychobiology.

[14]  Barry M. Lester,et al.  A biosocial model of infant crying , 1984 .

[15]  Mahadev L. Apte.  Humor and Laughter: An Anthropological Approach , 1985 .

[16]  Raymond D. Kent,et al.  Vocalizations of one-year-olds , 1985, Journal of Child Language.

[17]  Michael J. Corwin,et al.  A Physioacoustic Model of the Infant Cry , 1985 .

[18]  D. Bolinger.  Intonation and Its Parts , 1985 .

[19]  R. Miller,et al.  Neonatal pain cries: effect of circumcision on acoustic features and perceived urgency. , 1986, Child development.

[20]  D. Mowrer,et al.  Analysis of five acoustic correlates of laughter , 1987 .

[21]  J. Askenasy.  The functions and dysfunctions of laughter. , 1987, The Journal of general psychology.

[22]  JANICE PORTEOUS,et al.  Humor as a process of defense: the evolution of laughing , 1988 .

[23]  M P Robb,et al.  Vocal fundamental frequency characteristics during the first two years of life. , 1989, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[24]  R. Stark.  Temporal patterning of cry and non-cry sounds in the first eight months of life , 1989 .

[25]  H. Papoušek,et al.  The meanings of melodies in motherese in tone and stress languages , 1991 .

[26]  Classification of Complex Nonspeech Sounds , 1992 .

[27]  Sheri Hunnicutt,et al.  Acoustic analysis of laughter , 1992, ICSLP.

[28]  Susan A. Holt,et al.  Social process theory of emotion: A dynamic systems approach , 1992 .