Explain why the sound of children crying again is

For many people, having to hear the sound of children crying is a formality. The discomfort is not only because the baby cries for a long time, but also because their crying is indeed a "powerful weapon" that makes us deaf and hard.

For new parents who have babies, there is no more frightening experience than having to hear the cries of children. Compared to the experience of being in a high noise environment such as a bar or an airport, it is clear that the baby's cries are much more annoying. Why is there such a situation?

The answer has been discovered by scientists. That's because our brain responds to the sound and nature of human hearing after millions of years of evolution.

Katie Young of Oxford University, head of research on how the brain processes children's cries, said: "The sound from the cries of children creates much more different attention than other sounds."

The sound from a child's cries creates a much different attention than other sounds.

According to The Guardian, Young tried sweeping the brains of 28 people while they listened to babies crying, adult cries and moans of cats or dogs.

The team used magnetoencephalography (MEG) scans to detect magnetic fields in the brain, Young found that the brain almost reacted immediately to the sound of children crying. Initially the signal was only normal but then the signal started to increase suddenly and more intensely after about 100 milliseconds.

This reaction occurs in two areas of the brain. One is "middle temporal gyrus" located in the temporal lobe. This is the area for handling emotions and words. The other area is the prefrontal cortex (orbitofrontal cortex), where emotional processing and decision making are made.

Young said that the brain and the emotional area react to the crying of children because the brain considers it an important sign that needs immediate treatment. It is worth mentioning that no one in the study is a parent or experienced baby care. However, their brains and emotional areas all have the same way of responding to their cries.

Suppose an adult man and newborn cry together with a certain sound intensity. We may mistakenly believe that the cry is at the same volume, so the discomfort is almost the same. But practically everything is different. The tone of a man's voice is certainly much smaller than that of the child's voice. The difference lies in the frequency or pitch of the sound emitted.

The brain and the emotional area respond to the crying of children because the brain considers it an important sign that needs immediate treatment.

Every sound we feel is determined by the frequency. Specifically, a man's voice often has a lower frequency than the baby's cry.

To visually compare the sound frequencies of the male voice and the child's cries, the researchers used a spectrum analyzer. This device will display the intensity of all audio frequencies within the human hearing range: 20Hz to 20,000Hz.

Starting with a man who makes sounds will be recorded by the spectrum analyzer as follows:

Orange peak represents the frequency of the voice. The right top has a higher frequency than the left peaks. Pay attention to the top of this audio recording (where the arrow points). It is the largest frequency of the voice recording, exactly 700Hz.

Frequency sound of male voice.

Now try to collect your baby's crying. The results show that the maximum frequency is up to 2700Hz. This is the reason why the crying of children is very uncomfortable because it greatly affects our hearing.

The sound frequency from the baby's cries.

We must learn how to get used to the cries of children

A study from the 1930s by two scientists Harvey Fletcher and Wilden Munson pointed out, human ears are most sensitive to sound frequencies between 2,000Hz and 4,000Hz . This is the range of sounds that cause discomfort.

Scientists also find out why babies' cries affect a subconscious person's behavior. They conduct activation of one of the key areas of the brain to play a behavioral control role.

Young's colleague Christine Parsons said that the team had checked whether the baby's cries triggered the survival response mechanism of the volunteers. Accordingly, they are allowed to play mole rats before hearing sounds like crying babies, crying adults and animals moaning.

Parsons revealed: "Volunteers' reactions are faster and more accurate after hearing their cries. They have almost changed dynamics and acted immediately after hearing their cries." .

The perception of a crying baby seems to have been imprinted in adult awareness.

She asserted that the sudden switch between the subconscious and the "warning" state could explain why the baby's crying caused such discomfort to anyone, whether they were parents of children or not.

"When you hear the baby crying, you immediately turn to a more alert state because you certainly don't want to hear that sound. It really is an unpleasant sound and very hard to ignore" , Parsons added.

On an evolutionary scale, the perception of a crying baby seems to have been imprinted in adult awareness. It is a sign that the child needs protection or help. Through an evolutionary process, our ears are gradually adapting to the cries of children so they react very quickly when they cry.