Applications of unsupervised machine learning in classification: Detecting optimal clustering method for baby cry

Hongze Lyu
MASDS, 2025
WU, YINGNIAN
Clustering baby cry sounds can provide valuable insights into infant needs and potential health conditions. However, selecting the optimal clustering method for such an acoustic dataset remains a challenge. This study explores various unsupervised clustering techniques to determine the most effective approach for grouping baby cries based on their acoustic features. We evaluate methods including K-means, hierarchical clustering, DBSCAN, spectral clustering and Self-Organizing Maps (SOM), analyzing their performance in terms of cluster separation and consistency. A key focus is on assessing clustering validity using internal metrics such as the Silhouette Score and Davies-Bouldin Index. Our findings indicate that certain methods, particularly SOM combined with K-means, provide well-separated clusters, though challenges remain in ensuring robustness across different cry patterns. The results contribute to the broader understanding of infant vocalization analysis and offer a foundation for future studies in automated baby cry classification.
2025