Along with some colleagues, Caspar Addyman, a developmental psychologist at the University of London, created the first song engineered specifically to elicit adorable baby giggles.
https://youtu.be/99ejy8NzYW0
At the beginning of the project, Addyman says the team put together a few requirements: First, the song had to have “musical devices like drum rolls, key changes and rising pitch glides to provide opportunities for anticipation and surprise.” It also had to have a fairly fast pace, to account for the fact that a baby’s heart rate is quicker than an adult’s. (Research has shown that we’re drawn to songs whose tempo falls in the same range as our heart rate.) And the last requirement was that it be recorded by a female vocalist, because babies tend to prefer women’s voices. Ideally, it would also be recorded in the presence of a baby, as research and real-life experience have shown that our voices naturally change when we’re talking to an infant.
Let’s check out the finished product!
https://youtu.be/XjpraGVs2Sg
26 babies between six and 12 were used to test the music, parents telling researchers the tunes their babies preferred. Once they had the winning melody, the next step was to fill in the lyrics. Around 2,500 parents were surveyed to determine the noises that evoked the most positive response in their babies, including animal impressions, raspberries, “boo,” and the sound of other babies laughing.
