Can the baby hear in the womb?

When you are pregnant, you may often talk to the baby who is still in the womb. Whether it's telling what is going on, expressing your feelings, or talking about other things. Babies who are in the womb actually hear all the sounds around them, therefore these sounds can affect the growth and development of the fetus and when the baby is born.

Babies hear what mothers say even in the womb

Did you know that the baby in your womb can actually hear any sounds around it, including when you talk to it? Previous research evidence is that newborns can immediately learn to hear and distinguish between sounds and languages ​​in their surroundings. However, it turns out that there is a new study that states that babies can learn language at a very early age, even in the womb.

A study can prove that babies who are only a few hours old can actually distinguish between sounds around them. In this study, it is said that the baby can distinguish which language the mother used while in the womb, from the foreign language that she may have just heard. The growth of the cochlear organ (an important organ in the sense of hearing in the ear) in the fetus has started to occur at 24 weeks of gestation. Then the development and growth continues, the auditory and brain sensors begin to develop when the fetus is 30 weeks old.

Research conducted by Pacific Lutheran University This states that at the last 10 weeks of gestation, the baby in the womb hears when the mother asks him to talk, and at birth he responds that he understands what his mother said while in the womb. A total of 40 baby girls and boys in the United States and Sweden were seen for their behavior when they were 30 hours old. When given stimulation of the mother's voice in the language she uses everyday, almost all babies respond. Meanwhile, when given stimulation or sound stimulation using a foreign language, not the everyday language he listens to, the babies do not respond the same.

The sounds you hear during pregnancy have an effect on the baby's future development

Babies in the womb do not only understand and can distinguish foreign languages ​​from everyday language. However, the sounds around the baby can have an impact on the baby's health. For example, in a study conducted in China, it was found that the loud noises the fetus "hears" during the first trimester of pregnancy are at risk congestive anomalies or birth defects in babies.

Another study has shown that children who have hearing impairments, being tested for their hearing ability when they are 4 to 10 years old, are found to be born to mothers who are exposed to sound with high decibels of 85 to 95 dB during pregnancy every day. In fact, loud noise can increase the risk of miscarriage in pregnant women who are often exposed to sounds with frequencies exceeding 90 dB. Preterm birth can also be caused by exposure to noise during pregnancy. A total of four studies have proven that pregnant women who are exposed to sound with a frequency of at least 80 dB for 8 hours per day, on average give birth to premature children.

How about listening to music while pregnant?

It is different with babies who are exposed to loud noises during their pregnancy, babies who are often heard listening to music during their fetus period, such as instrumental music and classical music, have the potential to have better cognitive development. This has been proven by a study involving 12 pregnant women who were divided into two groups. The first group was the group of mothers who played music regularly when they entered the third trimester, then the second group was the group of women who did not play music regularly during pregnancy.

After the babies were born, researchers found that the babies remembered the music they played while they were still in the womb. The response is known when music, which is often played during pregnancy, is played again when the baby is born and measured by performing an electroencephalogram (EEG), a test that is performed to determine brain activity. The results of EEG examinations in infants who received musical stimuli while in the womb, showed signs of brain activity that recognized the music. Then from this study came the conclusion that the fetus remembers the sounds it hears and may have an effect on fetal development and growth.