If it is true that babies have 3 or 4 distinct cries (one for hunger, sleepiness, pain, etc), then why couldn't there be a device that analyzes and categorizes the frequency of the cry and then verbally "announces" which type of cry it is? The device doesn't have to associate a frequency with a physical or emotional state, it just announces to the parent what category (or frequency) the cry is. For example, the device would analyze a cry and say "Cry Number 2". It would be up to the parent to learn over time that Cry #2 is associated with hunger. Even better, the device could record the parents voice-over for Cry #2 so that the device announces (in the parents pre-recorded voice) "Baby is hungry" instead of "Cry #2". As a parent-to-be, I'd love to know if this could work.-- macman, Mar 17 2006 Simpsons: Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes? http://www.snpp.com/episodes/8F23.html [jutta, Mar 17 2006] Engadget discussion about the same thing (2005) http://www.engadget...-s-baby-translator/Claims that Bow-Lingual dog translator manufacturer is working on the same thing; problems. [jutta, Mar 17 2006] Spanish product: "WhyCry" (2001) http://www.whycry.com/For sale for about 70 British Pounds in the UK. [jutta, Mar 17 2006] Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal: Baby Translator http://www.smbc-com...x.php?id=3326#comic [jutta, Jul 03 2014] If parents can't interpret the cries properly without technological assistance, there's really no hope for the baby.-- DrCurry, Mar 17 2006 Thanks, Jutta. I knew I had seen this before.
Last week, my sister, one year old niece and I visited my 95 year old grandmother who recently had a stroke, making it very difficult to understand her speech (not that rambling in French is easy to understand in the first place). We did our best to carry on a conversation, then my niece climbed up on her lap and they babbled back and forth for ten minutes straight. We couldn't help but wonder if maybe they understood each other. Strange.-- Shz, Mar 17 2006 [Shz], made me laugh.
[macman], congratulations!
And then there is the other cry. Also known as the OTHER CRY, formerly known as the diaper pin cry but nobody uses those anymore so that can't be it. Baby is fed, baby is clean, baby just had a nap, baby just had a drink, everything is hunkydory as they say. why baby cry?-- zeno, Mar 18 2006 Ennui.-- jutta, Mar 18 2006 I have heard that signing for babies is the latest trend. Apparently infants as young as 6 weeks have been found to respond to and use very basic sign language, allowing them to communicate well before developing speech.
<Proud parents "Oh, look honey! Little Leslie is signing!" "What's it say?" "Mommy, Daddy ....your music sucks....I want some Mozart." Proud parents stare in stunned silence.>-- Canuck, Mar 19 2006 A reverse baby translator where you take a person talking and convert into crying baby language. Ideal for when your boss starts to rant and rave turn on your reverse baby translator and let them know how they really sound.-- Braindead, Mar 19 2006 I like [braindead]'s idea :)-- phundug, Mar 21 2006 I now have a n00b, and she seems to cry quite a bit for no apparent reason. For certain, her complaints would be translated as "I dislike the color of this sofa" or perhaps "my left sock is slightly crooked". (+)-- ed, Mar 15 2007 Could be a very useful tool for babysitters who don't know the baby well yet. Or for clueless godfathers. (Not me, of course. That's not how I got the same idea.) [+]-- placid_turmoil, Apr 16 2007 Great link, jutta. Made me laugh.-- blissmiss, Jul 03 2014 // Analyzes the frequency of baby cry and translates it for parents //
"I am going to make the next twenty years of your life complete and utter misery"-- 8th of 7, Jul 03 2014 random, halfbakery