Many parents are likely to have been in a situation where their baby cries uncontrollably in his travel high chair.

Often it is difficult to tell if the tot is tired, hungry or in pain due to teething - a problem Japanese scientists have sought to solve with a new gadget.

Researchers from the Department of Computer Science and Systems Engineering, at Muroran Institute of Technology in Hokkaido, have been working on a baby monitor which analyses infant emotions to find out the root cause of the distress.

Employing a sound pattern recognition approach to the frequency of cries, the scientists claim to have achieved a 100 per cent success rate in determining pained and "normal" screams.

Their findings, which have been published in the international Journal of Biometrics, speculate that the technology could one day be included in a baby monitor.

News of the breakthrough could buoy parents whose children suffer from colic, which is a condition characterised by uncontrollable screaming in a healthy newborn tot.

Posted by Michael Stevenson ADNFCR-3005-ID-19639345-ADNFCR