We know and recognize the importance of talking to babies from the moment they are born and stimulating them neurologically. Now we have the great opportunity to do it much sooner and this represents a great advance.
The clinical trial, titled “Fetal facial expression in response to intravaginal music emission”, has allowed us to demonstrate that fetuses hear from week 16 (when the fetus only measures 11cm) and that they respond with vocalization movements only when music is emitted from the mother’s vagina.
We have discovered the formula so that they hear like us, so that the sound reaches them effectively in intensity and without distortions.
Fetuses respond to music vaginally by moving their mouth and tongue, as if they wanted to speak or sing.
We have managed to communicate with the fetus. For the first time, we were able to get a fetus to make a specific movement as explained at the press conference presenting the study.
The journal “Ultrasound” of the British Medical Ultrasound Society (BMUS) has published our study “Fetal facial expression in response to the emission of music via the vagina”, a pioneering investigation into fetal hearing worldwide. It is currently the most read Ultrasound study.
This work discovers that, from the sixteenth week of pregnancy, when the fetus measures 11 cm, there is already a response to music emitted vaginally through specific movements of the mouth and tongue.
Our starting hypothesis suggests that music induces a response of vocalization movements, since it activates brain circuits that stimulate language and communication. That is, learning begins in the womb.
With this study we also demonstrate that the only way for the fetus to hear music, just as we hear it, is to emit it from the mother’s vagina. If we emit music from the outside, through the abdomen, the fetus does not perceive it in the same way.
To carry out the study, a special vaginal device was designed that the Music in Baby company has subsequently marketed under the name Babypod®.
We present and explain the main conclusions of the study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dt Marisa López-Teijón has been awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine, specifically, the first to be awarded in Obstetrics in the 27-year history of the award.
From what we have investigated, we know that the mother’s voice and outside sounds are not heard as they are emitted: the soft tissues of the abdominal wall and inside the mother’s body absorb the sound waves, reducing their intensity. and, furthermore, they produce distortion of words. It is as if he were surrounded by pillows or, like when we hear people talking in the next room, but we cannot understand the conversation.
According to a study conducted with pregnant sheep and published in 1996, words emitted from the outside and recorded inside the uterus are only approximately 50% intelligible (Griffiths et al, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America).
It is said that the fetus hears mainly low tones and this is because high tones are even more muffled.
So that they hear the same as us, the only way is vaginal
The vagina is a closed space and therefore there is no dispersion of sound. In addition, the layers of soft tissue that separate the fetus from the sound emitter are smaller: only the vaginal and uterine walls separate them.
In addition, the layers of soft tissue that separate the fetus from the sound emitter are smaller: only the vaginal and uterine walls separate them.
Part of the sound is reflected to the outside and another part is absorbed and distorted by the soft tissues that make up the abdominal and uterine wall. Only the transmitted part reaches the fetus and it is of lower intensity and clarity than at the point of emission.
It is a closed space, there is no sound dispersion and the layers of soft tissue that separate the fetus from the sound emitter are smaller. There are only the vaginal and uterine walls and, therefore, we eliminate the reduction that the abdominal wall represents.
The study focused on getting the fetus to perceive a higher intensity of sound. To do this, we designed a new and specific device to emit music from the mother’s vagina.
The study was carried out on pregnant patients at our center who were between 14 and 39 weeks of gestation. Throughout the work, the team of researchers observed through ultrasound the reaction of the fetus when listening to music emitted via the abdominal and vaginal routes. They also compared results, emitting vibrations without music from the vagina.
The music used in the published study was by Johann Sebastian Bach, more specifically Partita in A Minor for Flute Alone – BWV 1013.
In the ultrasounds prior to the start of the stimuli, the researchers observed that approximately 45% of the fetuses spontaneously presented movements of the head and limbs, 30% movements of the mouth or tongue, and 10% showed language. This is what a fetus usually does when awake.
Before the ultrasound, the pregnant patient put on the vaginal device designed for the study, which emits an average sound intensity of 54 decibels (the equivalent of a low-pitched conversation or background music).
87% of the fetuses reacted with nonspecific movements of the head and limbs, and specific movements of the mouth and tongue, which stopped when they stopped hearing the music. Furthermore, with vaginal music, about 50% of the fetuses reacted with a very striking movement, opening their jaws widely and sticking out their tongues as much as possible.
Headphones were placed on the pregnant woman’s abdomen that emitted music with an average sound intensity of 98.6 decibels (a level equivalent to that of an ambulance siren or music in a nightclub).
During this part of the study, no changes were observed in the fetuses’ facial expressions.
To find out if the fetal reaction was due to the vibration of sound waves (that is, to non-musical mechanical vibration), the pregnant patient puts on a vaginal vibrator like those used as a sex toy. The team of researchers performed the ultrasounds, emitting sound vibrations at an average intensity of 68 decibels (the equivalent of a high-pitched conversation). In this part of the study, we also did not observe changes in the facial expressions of the fetuses.
Our hypothesis is that music induces a response of vocalization movements, since it activates brain circuits that stimulate language and communication.
Once the formation of the inner ear is complete, when an auditory stimulus that includes rhythm or melody arrives through the cochlea, very primitive centers of the brain stem would be activated in the area related to social behavior that induce vocalization.
A group of cells called the inferior colliculus is what detects sound. If these cells think that the sound is harmonious and associate it with music, the nerves responsible for mobilizing the mouth, jaw and tongue to vocalize are stimulated and activated (previous step to language).
Currently, in collaboration with the Chair of Neuroanatomy at the Hospital Clínico de Barcelona and the Chair of Radiology at the San Rafaele Hospital in Milan, our team of researchers is investigating, using magnetic resonance imaging in pregnant women, which fetal brain areas are activated with music. issued vaginally.
We know that babies begin to vocalize spontaneously in response to the sounds they hear and begin to explore the register of their voices: this is the pre-speech phase. When faced with dissonant noises or sounds, these neuron circuits are not activated; Singing or talking to a child stimulates speech, while noise does not.
As it is a response and not a reflex, the fetus’s reaction depends on multiple factors and is therefore different at each moment. It varies depending on the neuronal activity of the brainstem at that moment, so the response could depend on the sleep phase the fetus is in or the blood glucose levels. For example, when we sing to a baby, they also react differently depending on whether they are hungry, thirsty or sleepy.
If fetuses respond to music emitted from the vagina at 54 decibels and, however, do not respond to music emitted from the abdomen at a much higher intensity, it is assumed that they do not hear it. The reduction in the intensity of the sounds that reach the fetus from the outside makes them barely audible.
It is striking that there is no response to the vaginal vibrator despite emitting a sound at an intensity of 68 decibels. We know that sound is vibrations with a regular frequency and that noise is vibrations with an irregular frequency. Noise is a disharmonic organization of sound and music is a harmonic organization of sound.
In subsequent studies, our research team has been able to observe that they do not respond to the emission of beeps at 54 decibels vaginally and this is because the response of the fetus is produced based on stimuli that induce communication responses. Music or language can cause it, but noise cannot.
When you talk or sing to your baby, he also tries to communicate with you by trying to vocalize; This does not happen when he hears a noise, since they are different brain circuits.
In a study by Dr. Perani (Dr. Perani et al, PNAS) analyzed, using magnetic resonance imaging, the brain areas that are activated with music and observed how cortical and subcortical activation of primary auditory centers and other more evolved ones occur, especially in the hemisphere. right brain. When faced with dissonant sounds, these areas were not activated, but rather this brain activation was abolished.
The response of the fetus does not occur, therefore, to sound vibrations or noise, but to music.
Comparison of the fetal response to different sound stimuli
With vaginal music, 87% of fetuses reacted by making mouth and tongue movements. With music from the abdomen and vaginal vibration, no change occurred.
To carry out this scientific study, we designed a prototype of a music-emitting vaginal device, which we continued to perfect. With the aim that all fetuses could benefit from this discovery and be able to hear voices or music well, we have given in Music in Baby our idea and technology.
Babypod® pis a small vaginal speaker that is very easy to use and does not present any risk to pregnancy. It is placed like a tampon and connects to music via mobile phone.
We recommend using it from week 16 of gestation until the end of pregnancy, as long as any of the contraindications for use do not appear: dilation of the cervix, high obstetric risk pregnancies due to uterine malformations, threat of premature birth, premature rupture of membranes, placenta previous or active vaginal or urinary infections.
It is recommended the application of BabyPod® for 10 to 20 minute intervals, once or twice a day. There is no specific limitation but in order not to interrupt sleep cycles, the previously mentioned guideline is recommended.
We have conducted studies analyzing the fetal response to hearing its mother’s voice and other voices speaking. In no case have we found differences in the response to the mother’s voice with respect to other female or male voices. Nor has any reaction been detected when the fetus listens to the voice emitted from the outside, or when its mother speaks regardless of the intensity.
On the other hand, when any voice is emitted vaginally there is a fetal reaction: approximately 75% of fetuses respond with mouth or tongue movements but no protrusion movements of the tongue occur.
The results with Mickey Mouse’s voice have particularly caught our attention: 17% of fetuses stick out their tongues when they hear it. The explanation is that the Disney character speaks in “falsetto” (higher, sharper and more musical tone), and this is how we usually speak to babies.
Naturally, we have already mentioned that it comes to them like a whisper, they barely hear it and it does not wake them up. The fetus can perceive and remember differences in the rhythm and intonation of the mother’s voice, but all sounds reach it very muffled in intensity and with changes in tone and timbre.
We assume that it would be easier for them to recognize voices after birth if during pregnancy they reached them at a clearly audible level, vaginally.
With the vaginal device we are using in our research, anyone who wants to can talk to the fetus.
It is easier to understand fetal responses if we think about what a baby does. In this sense, what differentiates a fetus from a baby is the isolation inside the uterus and its brain development, but hearing and the primitive circuits of the brain stem are the same.
When we want to communicate with a baby we speak with a higher, sharper tone and with musicality. This stimulates their communication, induces vocalization movements, which are the previous step to language. Music modulates the attention and memory systems. We know that it is easier to learn multiplication tables with music or how we remember the lyrics of a song.
Speaking in a low, monotonous tone does not stimulate them. Specific or monotonous noises are not a source of stimulation either. We assume that fetuses do not respond to the vibration of sound waves (non-musical) vaginally, just as babies do not respond to the noise of a dishwasher.
Because music is the most ancient form of communication between humans. The first language was musical, preceding spoken language. It is the greatest stimulus we have for communication.
We have specific brain circuits for music: some induce pleasure, others stimulate the social area, others memory. Through studies, we have discovered circuits in our most primitive brain specific to vocalization.
Why has music always been present throughout history? We invite you to discover it in The Fertility Blog.
The pleasure center “nucleous accumbens” is not myelinated at week 16. We do not know at what point in pregnancy the nucleus accumbens begins to function, but it is likely from week 26 onwards. We will obtain more data with the research study we are carrying out in pregnant women, performing brain MRI while music is played vaginally.
We know and recognize the importance of talking to babies from the moment they are born and stimulating them neurologically. Now we have the great opportunity to do it much sooner and this represents a great advance.
Did you know that the fetus hears and responds to music when it comes from the mother’s vagina?
We have verified this in a clinical study that our team has published in the British magazine “Ultrasound”. Now you too can know how your child reacts to music and live a unique experience with him.
You will be assisted by specialists who have participated in our medical study, gynecologists accredited by the Spanish Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics to perform obstetric ultrasounds and Prenatal Diagnosis, trained to detect possible fetal malformations in many cases.
At the end of the session you will receive a dossier with photos and a DVD with images of your child and a Babypod so you can continue listening to music with him during the rest of your pregnancy.
Price of the scan + Babypod: €190
Rellena el formulario y nos pondremos en contacto contigo para organizar una visita con un especialista en Reproducción Asistida.
Institut Marquès, clínica LGTBI Friendly
