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Electrophysiological Measurements and Analysis of Nociception in Human Infants
Published on: December 20, 2011
The newborn pain cry: descriptive acoustic spectrographic analysis
Anete Branco1, Saskia M W Fekete, Ligia M S S Rugolo
1Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu/UNESP, Brazil. anete.branco@uol.com.br
International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology
|February 9, 2007
Summary
Newborn pain cries during venepuncture are tense and strident, with specific acoustic features like vocal tract constriction. Lower birth weight and higher pain scores correlate with more intense vocalizations, aiding pain assessment.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal care
- Pain assessment
- Acoustic analysis
Background:
- Newborns exhibit distinct vocalizations during painful procedures like venepuncture.
- Understanding these vocal characteristics can improve pain evaluation in neonates.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the acoustic properties of newborn pain vocalizations during venepuncture.
- To correlate these acoustic features with the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale (NIPS) and infant variables.
Main Methods:
- Acoustic analysis of vocal emissions from 111 healthy term newborns (24-72h old) during venepuncture using GRAM 5.7 software.
- Evaluation of parameters including voice quality, frequency, breaks, and cough.
- Correlation with NIPS scores and newborn weight using Spearman test.
Main Results:
- All vocalizations exhibited guttural sounds, tense/strangled voice quality, and frequency instability.
- Higher fundamental frequency (34.2%), emission absence (62.2%), and vocal tract constriction signs were observed.
- Negative correlation between higher fundamental frequency and newborn weight; positive correlation between cough and NIPS score.
Conclusions:
- Newborn pain cries are characterized by tense, strident vocalizations with laryngeal and vocal tract involvement.
- Lower birth weight is associated with higher fundamental frequency and tense voice quality.
- Increased NIPS scores correlate with more frequent coughing, aiding in pain assessment during procedures.
