A mother uses a similar tone with babies, no matter the language

As part of the study, a mother plays with her child at the Princeton Baby Lab. Mothers across languages change the timbre of their voice in similar ways when they speak to babies, Princeton University neuroscientists report today in the journal Current Biology. This finding will help researchers understand what kind of speech keeps a baby's attention, which could improve how we teach children. Timbre is the flavor of music and speech. It's not a distinct pitch or loudness, but rather the unique collection of frequencies produced by a person or instrument.