Peaceful sleep, at last?

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Spanish father's sleepless nights eventually drove him to his vention which he called simply 'Why Cry'. Catalan electronics engineer, Pedro Monagas, has designed a detector that tells frazzled parents within 20 seconds if their baby is hungry, bored, tired, stressed or uncomfortable. "I started studying the different kinds of cries of my son," says Monagas. "Then I continued on 100 babies, and distinguished five distinct crying types, which `Why Cry' can identify through its noise sensitivity."

The gadget is easy to use, having five faces on a screen, each representing the possible reasons why an infant is crying. "When the baby starts to cry, it triggers 'Why Cry' and in a few seconds a face lights up," reports the inventor. The invention will go on sale in Spain this month at a cost of about $100.

Copyright International Communications Dec 2002
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