The app that claims to decipher crying is fairly simple but still costs $3

BALTIMORE — Parents of newborns go through a lot of anguish trying to determine why their baby is crying. Now, that anguish could possibly go away with a simple $3 app that was developed to decode crying and tell parents exactly what their baby’s crying means.

Brandon and Abby Newsom hope that is the case with their baby, Brayden, who was born just last week. The bliss that comes with being new parents also comes with a lot of crying from the baby.

Brayden is the Newsom’s first child and they are still trying to figure out what he needs.

“Sometimes I’m just like, ‘What do you need?'” Abby Newsom said. “I wish he could just tell us.”

Brayden can’t tell the Newsoms, but a research team claims an app can. Based on the collection of 200,000 crying sounds, the “infant cries translator” distinguishes between four separate cries: hungry, tired, in pain and has a wet diaper.

The app is pretty basic. It is just one page. When your baby cries you press a button, but here’s the catch: your baby has to cry for 15 seconds.

The Newsoms tested the app on Brayden and it said he was hungry.

“He’s hungry,” Abby Newsome said. “I was going to tell you he was hungry.”

Sinai Hospital pediatrician Dr. Michael Zollicoffer thinks the app is good for fun, but not for reality.

“You have to listen to the response of your kid,” he said. “Their cry is their communication. It’s their talking. Their babbling is their discussion. To take your movement away, I don’t like it.”

The Newsoms said they like the idea of the app, but they won’t buy it. They said nothing compares with the quality time of getting to know their baby.

Source: WBAL