Coochy coo: why baby talk is more sophisticated than you might think

Research reveals subtle changes in sound patterns help babies recognise the voice of their mothers

Cooing to an infant might not seem like sophisticated speech, but it turns out that baby talk is more complex than previously thought.

While it has long been known the pitch and rhythm of speech changes when mothers talk to their babies, researchers have now found the timbre of their voice changes too - a quality that reflects properties such as how velvety, raspy or nasal a sound seems.