Data such as ours suggest we may need to rethink that traditional teaching. A better approach is to allow the woman to do that which makes her feel more comfortable.

We're inching down that path. But to make a sweeping statement that there's no need for coaching anymore wouldn't be accurate. Especially for women with an epidural [anesthetic], it may be appropriate.

There were no other findings to show that coaching or not coaching was advantageous or harmful.

The question we asked was: Were they better or worse off for having been coached to push?

Oftentimes it's best for the patient to do what's more comfortable for her.

The idea came about through our partnership [with China Daily] in China, where teaching and learning of spoken English is a very high priority for people and the government. It was thought that if we could come up with a way to integrate this into our own technology, it would be helpful to school children and college students.