Chatterbaby app helps deaf parents know when & why their baby is crying

Parents who are deaf have a hard time knowing when their baby is crying. Some of them depend on cameras and remote noise-monitors to help keep an eye on their children. However, these technologies have their limitations.

For instance, there is no way to find out the difference between loud noises and crying.

Now, thanks to researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles in the United States, deaf parents have an innovative app that will help.

The app is called Chatterbaby. It uses artificial intelligence to tell deaf parents when their baby is crying, as well as why the baby is crying.

The researchers audio samples of more than 2,000 babies’ cries. Then they built and tested algorithms that translated cries into three categories. These were pain, hunger and fussiness. The algorithms correctly predicted the type of cry, such as pain cries due to vaccinations, more than 90% of the time.

The app is available for free on iPhone and Android devices. It is also available on Chatterbaby.org where parents can record and upload their babies’ cries. These are then analyzed using artificial intelligence.

Scientists are hoping that a new crying-pattern study launched through the app will also provide insight into whether certain crying patterns can later be associated with specific development disorders, like autism.

Chatterbaby is also designed to help new parents, who may not yet understand what their baby is trying to communicate.

Watch in Sign Language