Gadget Inspector: Sob Story
The WhyCry digitally analyzes babies' wails.
by Sam Apple
January 9, 2007
For all my testing, I have no idea if the WhyCry actually works. According to Monagas, his machine is 98 percent accurate when measured against infant body language associated with specific cries. But then how can we know if the body language interpretation of crying is accurate. The rooting instinct sometimes makes it easy to tell if Isaac is hungry, but boredom, stress, and annoyance are murkier territory, especially since the solution to all of these conditions seems to be the same: immediately giving Isaac something, anything! to suck on. And even if we could determine basic needs from a baby's body language, it begs the question of why we would still want to shell out $100 to $150 for the WhyCry.
If I had my doubts about the WhyCry, I was still fascinated by the mind that dreamed it up, and so I tracked down Monagas and called him at his home in Castellar del Valles, Spain.
Monagas's belief in the universality of the cry had me wondering if he could determine anything about animal communication. I was embarrassed to ask what I feared was an idiotic question, but Monagas surprised me by revealing that he had already developed similar technology for dolphins and whales.
When I asked him how the same device could work for babies of different ages when their cries sound so different, Monagas explained that the frequency and modulation of a cry is exactly the same whether a baby or an adult is crying.
"So if I cried out of hunger, I'd make the same sounds as a baby?" I asked.
"Yes, of course, if you don't speak," Monagas said. "But normally the adult is not crying for hunger, no?"
Monagas had me there. I left our conversation thinking he was a very smart, if eccentric, man. The painful truth is that babies will always be inscrutable, and it's precisely this inscrutability that opens the door to the proliferation of advice books and bizarre products. Everyone is an expert when there is no way to be proven wrong.
On the other hand, the WhyCry is a fun toy, and a great conversation piece. My friends love playing around with it, and ever since Monagas told me that it can interpret adult cries as well, I've found it hard to resist caterwauling into the machine when I'm home alone.
©2006 Sam Apple and Nerve Media
About the Author
|
|
Related Articles
|
 |
Sam Apple's work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ESPN The Magazine, and Slate.com, among many other publications. His first
book, Schlepping Through the Alps, was named a finalist for the PEN America award for a first work of nonfiction. In 2005 he received the
annual Faux Faulkner award. Apple's new book, American Parent, is on sale now. |
|
|
-
by Sam Apple
We process the ABC Kids Expo in Vegas.
-
by Sam Apple
The WhyCry digitally analyzes babies' wails.
-
by Sam Apple
Is the Miracle Blanket truly miraculous?
|
