title: Microcomputer-aided studies of cry jitter uttered by newborn children based upon high-resolution analysis of fundamental frequencies.
abstract: The metrological and computational problems of detecting very weak variations in the frequencies of the fundamental tone are discussed from a signal processing point of view. An appropriate computer method of high-resolution analysis of the fundamental frequency is proposed. When applying high-resolution fundamental frequency analysis to cry signals, a jitter was found to exist in the fundamental frequency curve of both healthy babies and those suffering from cerebral disorders. A method is given to separate the jitter from the fundamental frequency curve. The separated jitter curve depends on the degree of slope of the fundamental frequency curve and shows differences between healthy and ill babies. For an objective evaluation of the jitter abnormities, an integral parameter--the so-called cry-jitter index--is proposed.
authors.affiliation: Centre of Scientific Instruments, Academy of Science of the G.D.R., Berlin.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lüdge
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gips
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003448:Crying; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000502:physiology*; D008838:Microcomputers; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013018:Sound Spectrography