Babies Remember Songs They Heard While They Were in the Womb

The scientists have discovered the fact that the babies are able to remember the songs which they have heard while they were inside the wombs of their mothers.

The have observed that the heart beats of the infants slow down when they hear the songs which their mothers played for them with three weeks prior to being born. The human hearing is developed in the later stages of the pregnancy, more precisely in the last trimester. It has been discovered a while ago that the babies can hear sounds without any problems while they are in the womb. It is believed that this is one of the reasons why we are able later in life to process the sounds and to develop the speech. With five weeks remaining until the birth, the cochlea, or the spiral region from the human ear, it is fully developed. Developmental psychobiologist Carolyn Granier-Deferre at Paris Descartes University in France wanted to see if the babies are able to remember sounds which they heard while they were in womb. They played various melodies to the babies while they were in the womb, and then they played them the same songs after they were born. The researchers noticed that the babies reacted to the songs which they heard while they were inside, and that they remained indifferent to other songs.

Fifty women participated to the study, and they were asked to play a certain low pitched sound to their babies, while they wore in their last three weeks of pregnancy. They had to repeat the process twice per day. The tone was very brief, as it lasted only 3.6 seconds. The researchers then replayed the sounds to the babies while they were sleeping in the laboratories, which served as a control area. They observed that the heart rates of the babies slowed by about 12 beats per minute when they heard that particular tone. There was a reduction in heart beatings when they heard melodies as well, but in the majority of the cases the rates slowed down only by 4 or 5 beats per minute. Granier-Deferre said that the experiment proved that the babies can hear while they are inside the womb, and that they actually pay attention to the sounds which they hear while they are in there. Of course, they can not understand the words, but they can remember certain sounds or sequences, and it seems that when they rehear them, they can calm them. This is the reason why the babies will pay close attention to the sound of their mother’s voice when they are infants. While they were in the womb, they heard her voice for a very long time, and when they are born they can distinguish it from the voices of the other women.

She also stated that it is very important for the mothers to talk to their babies while they are in the womb, because this process will help the babies get more acquainted with the speech process. She believes that this capacity is developed while the baby is still in the womb, despite of the popular beliefs that it is formed once the baby was born. Granier-Deferre said that the experiment was conducted simply to prove that the babies are paying attention to the sounds they hear. She said that the mothers do not need to play music to their children while they are in the womb because they face lots of sounds. Too much music or too many sounds might be too much for them and as a result they might be overwhelmed by the process. She said that playing music to the babies while they are in the womb, will not increase their artistic creation. However, if the parents want to increase this aspect of their babies, they should play music to them after the birth. If they play music to the babies after the birth they can observe the reaction of the child; they can see which music he likes, which one he dislikes, and so on. The reaction can not be observed while the baby is still in the womb.

She also added that the mothers should avoid at all costs the devices which deliver music directly to the babies from the womb. Usually they are placed on the belly, and the music is sent into it. The volume of the music might be too loud for the babies, and they might become affected by it. The mothers can sing to their children if they want to, because the children will not be bothered by the voice of their mothers. On top of that, it seems that the voice of the mothers can actually calm the children while they are in the womb, and that is always a plus.