A new study, conducted by researchers at the University of Montreal, suggests that singing to a crying baby is more soothing to the baby than talking to pacify the baby, Regal Tribune reports.
The study was published recently in the journal Infancy. The report was titled "Singing Delays the Onset of Infant Distress".
The study involved 39 healthy infants, aged between 6 and 9 months. The purpose of the research study was to investigate how the emotional self-control of the infants would be influenced when they are exposed to music or speech.
The researchers maintained the objectivity of the study by not using any sounds that could have been recognized by the children. The speeches and music that the infants were exposed to were in Turkish.
"Emotional self-control is obviously not developed in infants, and we believe singing helps babies and children develop this capacity", declared Professor Isabelle Peret, of the University of Montreal's Center for Research on Brain, Music and Language.
The study showed that the babies spent twice as much time looking soothed and relaxed when listening to music they had never heard before, than when listening to human speech. While listening to music, the babies were peaceful and serene for approximately 9 minutes as opposed to four minutes when they were listening to baby talk.
