Rhode Island Neonatal Observation Study (RhINOS)

Primary Investigators:  Cynthia Miller Loncar PhD, Stephen Sheinkopf PhD.

Rhode Island Neonatal Observation Study (RhINOS) is a collaborative research effort with the University of Missouri Early Years program created to learn more about human development during the first years of life. Over two thousand mothers and their newborns registered for the study at these two locations. Mothers were asked to provide information about their children at multiple ages. This data has helped the RhINOS/Early Years team track developmental milestones in over 1500 children and learn more about the onset and early identification of developmental delays (such as autism spectrum disorder). Another key part of this study involves examining infants' cries. The research team developed a new way to allow families to share recordings of their infants' cries from home using a smartphone app. Thanks to widespread participation, our team now has one of the largest libraries of infant cry recordings in the world and is incorporating the information from these recordings into our data analyses.

Infant Cry Acoustics:  Measurement Tools and Relation to Developmental Outcomes

Primary Investigators:  Stephen Sheinkopf PhD, Barry Lester PhD, Harvey Silverman PhD.

The acoustic features of infant cries contain information about the neurodevelopmental health of infants. We have investigated the relation between the acoustic features of cries from infants at risk for autism in relation to later childhood diagnoses.  In a recent study, we found that 6 month old infants at risk for autism had higher pitched cries than low risk infants, and those infants with later diagnoses of autism produced cries that were both high in pitch (fundamental frequency) and poorly voiced (dysphonation).  In order to follow up on these initial observations, we have developed an improved, modern and well validated measurement tool for acoustic analyses of infant cries. This cry analyzer is available as a research tool for qualified investigators.