By Dave Andrusko
How much drier can the headline to a study in the journal “Ultrasound“ be? “Fetal facial expression in response to intravaginal music emission”
But then, having glanced at the study, you zip back to The Inquisitr story that alerted you to its existence and what do you see (and hear)?
Unborn babies singing and dancing in response to music piped into their mother’s womb. Alright, technically, the 3D images taken at the Institut Marqués in Barcelona, Spain, show that the babies have “responded to the music by moving their mouths and their tongues as if they wanted to speak or sing,” according to the study’s authors.
But watching the video it’s hard not to conclude these kids are moving to the groovin’ (as us oldster used to say).
Reporting for The Inquisitr, Anne Sewell explains that the scientists had concluded from previous research that the auditory system in a unborn baby “does not start working until at least the 26th week of pregnancy. By testing using the new system, however, they have discovered that the fetuses can hear from week 16 and using the new system, the sound reaches them effectively and distortion-free.”
The “new system” is called a Babypod and is inserted directly into the mother’s womb. The advantage over playing the music externally is that while “reportedly a fetus can hear his or her mother talking, hear her heartbeat and even the sound of her heels clicking as she walks on the floor…, those sounds are only heard as a murmur, distorted by the stomach wall,” Sewell reports.
In addition to potentially providing the baby with an early musical education, “Our study suggests that music induces a response that activates brain circuits, stimulating language and communication,” a statement on the institute’s website says. “
“It proves that learning begins in the womb.”
Sewell adds
The results of the study will also help to improve ultrasound scans, due to the movement of the fetus brought on by hearing the music in the womb. It also helps the fetus respond to the sound of music with movements of vocalization – a prelude to singing and speaking.
You can watch the facial expressions here.
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