Story of IPB Lecturer Behind Baby Cry Translator App

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - IPB vocational lecturer Medhanita Dewi Renanti had developed an app that can help translate the cries of a baby dubbed the 'Madsaz Baby Cry Translator,' which she claimed would be helpful for parents, specifically first-time parents. 

The IPB Vocational School Informatics Management Lecturer said that the app she developed has been downloaded by over 180,000 people online and from over a hundred countries. The users are mostly first-time parents.

“The benefits offered by this app fortunately have helped many mothers, especially those who have just had a child. [It’s useful] to translate the cries of their babies,” Medhanita said in an article at the Education Ministry’s Directorate General of Vocation on May 3. 

In terms of accurately conveying the meaning behind an infant’s cries, she claimed the accuracy level of the app reaches a near-perfect 94 percent. This will enable parents to make the right decision in responding to each cry.

However, the accuracy level is effective for use on babies between the age of zero and to three-month-old. The accuracy varies and will not be as accurate for infants over that age demographic. 

The idea to create a ‘baby cry’ translator app initially sparked in 2011 when she was pregnant and was attending a seminar on child development. "I got information that babies have languages that can be interpreted by adults and at that time there was no Android-based software to translate babies' cries," said Medhanita.

Initially, she developed the app in desktop form back in 2013 and was launched in the same year. Medhanita further developed the app for Android in 2015 and claimed that it is able to detect five types of baby cries, such as when they are hungry, sleepy, burping, having gas, and when they feel uncomfortable.

The app itself is bilingual and offers translation services in English and Bahasa Indonesia. “The app tends to be universal and can be used for every baby,” she said in the app. 

DEVI ERNIS | TEMPO.CO

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