Crying is the primary source of distal communication through which newborn and young infants’ needs are related to the caregiving environment and, as such, this social behavior is vital to the survival and development of the infant. Recently, a series of experimental studies has begun to isolate the effects of specific durational components of crying on adults’ perceptions of infant cries. These studies have found the duration of pauses within and between cries to be perceptually salient features, however, the point at which adults were able to detect changes in the duration of the pauses was not addressed.

Seventy-five introductory psychology students participated in three experiments designed to determine Difference Thresholds for the point at which manipulations in the durations of pauses before and after the inspiration in infant cries were detectable by the adult listener. The Difference Threshold for the pause before the inspiration (PBI) with the duration of the pause after the inspiration (PAI) held constant was an increase of 354.18% in the duration of the PBI. Difference Thresholds for increases and decreases in the duration of the PAI were 58.53% and -61.91%, respectively. For increases and decreases in the duration of the PAI with a perceptibly longer PBI, Difference Thresholds were 39.82% and -57.6%, respectively. The Difference Threshold for an increase in the duration of the PBI with a perceptibly shorter duration of the PAI was 420.06% and the Difference Threshold for a decrease in the duration of the PBI with a perceptibly longer duration of the PAI was 485.61%. Results provided the first known experimental evidence of the point at which changes in the durations of pauses before and after the inspiration in infant crying are detectable by adult listeners.