Women more likely than men to hear crying babies while sleeping

November 30, 2009 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News

Women are more likely to be roused from slumber by the sound of a crying baby than men according to new research.

New research out of MindLab has found that among men and women, there may be a distinct predisposition to certain sounds that wake them.

The researchers created a custom sleep environment for volunteers to use for sleeping. While sleeping, the volunteers were subjected to certain sounds, and their brain patterns were recorded by an EEG to determine what most disturbed them.

The study found that a baby’s crying was the most sleep-disrupting sound for women, yet such a sound didn’t even rank in the top ten for men, leading researchers to believe that there may be fundamental evolutionary differences between the sexes.

Among males, the sound of a car alarm was the most disturbing while howling wind and buzzing flies followed closely behind.

“These differing sensitivities may represent evolutionary differences that make women sensitive to sounds associated with a potential threat to their children while men are more finely tuned to disturbances posing a possible threat to the whole family,” said psychologist Dr. David Lewis of MindLab.

Additionally, the researchers found that women were more prone to having their sleep disturbed by men, and men were able to return to sleep more easily than women when woke by a disturbance.

The top ten sounds most likely to wake men and women as published by the Telegraph:

Men: 1. Car alarm. 2. Howling wind. 3. Buzzing fly. 4. Snoring. 5. Noise from drains. 6. Crickets chirping. 7. Sirens. 8. Clock ticking. 9. Drilling/workmen. 10. Dripping tap.

Women: 1. Baby crying. 2. Dripping tap. 3. Rowdiness. 4. Snoring. 5. Buzzing fly. 6. Drilling/workmen. 7. Sirens. 8. Car alarm. 9. Howling wind. 10. Noise from drains.

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Tags: baby, buzzing of flies, car alarm, crying, crying baby, David Lewis, howling wind, men car alarm, MindLab, psychologist, sleep, the Telegraph, women crying baby, women men crying baby

Comments

3 Comments on "Women more likely than men to hear crying babies while sleeping"

Charles Linskaill on Tue, 1st Dec 2009 8:10 pm

Sounds to me that this research is justifying men to get of the hook for sharing their responsibilities in the Baby rearing department,
I always heard my Babies cries at 3/4/5 in the morning, I jumped out of bed, fed Baby and changed their dirty nappy, it was no problem for me to take my share and let mummy have a well earned, needed sleep, and I would do it all over again, if the situation arose, no problem atall!

Shawn Douglas on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 6:13 pm

Charles,

That’s great to hear! (No pun intended.) In general, I think that if the science behind the research was sound, then it’s not a real way for men to “get off the hook.” The science may say that men are less likely to wake to the sound, and I’m fine with that. However, it certainly doesn’t mean that men suddenly have an excuse NOT to tend to baby.

Charles Linskaill on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 11:29 pm

Shawn,

I agree with your comment, and I do think that nature give women a more sensitive ear, to babies cries.

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