Babies React to Their Mother's Voice When it is Emitted Through the Vagina from the 16th week of Pregnancy

Babies React to Their Mother's Voice When it is Emitted Through the Vagina from the 16th week of Pregnancy

MAASTRICHT, Netherlands, June 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

    A new audio device enables pregnant women to communicate with their babies before they

                                        are born 

              Data presented at the 25th European Congress of Perinatal Medicine

    The foetus moves its mouth in an exaggerated manner when it hears a human voice. This
occurs from the 16th week of pregnancy (with a foetus of 11cm) and only when the voice
reaches it through an intravaginal device developed for this purpose. This is one of the
conclusions of the study presented by Dr. Alex Garcia-Faura, the Scientific Director of
the Institut Marques, at the 25th European Congress of Perinatal Medicine held in
Maastricht (Netherlands).

    To view the Multimedia News Release, please click:

http://www.multivu.com/players/uk/7859951-institut-marques-babies-react-mother-voice

    The study finds that babies hear practically no external noise and only react when
sound reaches them through the vagina, which confirms that they hardly hear voices through
the mother's abdomen. Their reactions were studied using Babypod(R), a small device that
is inserted into the vagina like a tampon and is connected to a mobile phone, enabling the
voice of the mother or anyone else to reach the foetus.

    "Foetuses react with vocalisation movements when we can reach them with voice messages
through their mother's vagina. The response is different when we emit music and we put
this down to music and voice activating different brain circuits: music activates neuronal
circuits that trigger emotions", says Dr. Garcia-Faura, who has compared the differing
reactions by using transabdominal ultrasounds. Accordingly, 70% of foetuses move their
mouths when they are talked to; when they hear music they make more complex movements that
also include the protrusion of their tongues.

    This study is part of Institut Marques's pioneering line of research that is based on
the benefits of music at the onset of life. The findings on the recognition of the
mother's voice raises a new challenge: "Foetuses respond in the same way to all voices.
This leads us to a new question: to learn whether the hundreds of babies that you have
already stimulated during pregnancy will be able to recognise their parents' voices if
they have heard them during pregnancy from within the womb and also to find out whether
this represents a stimulus for language and communication development", the specialist
says.

    Apart from enabling communication with the foetus, Babypod(R) is safe and has highly
important medical applications: it allows foetal deafness to be ruled out and facilitates
ultrasounds that, by producing a response in the baby, improve the viewing of foetal
structures.

    Further information on the website:
http://institutomarques.com/area-cientifica/musica-y-estimulacion-fetal.

       
         
        Further information: 
        Institut Marques 
        Mireia Folguera 
        mireia.folguera@institutomarques.com 
        +34-93-285-82-16 - 649-901-494 
        Weber Shandwick 
        Rocio Bueno 
        rbueno@webershandwick.com 
        +34-91-745-86-64  
        EmptyBreak:MARKER 
        Web: 
        http://www.institutomarques.com 
        http://www.babypod.net 
        EmptyBreak:MARKER 
        Facebook: 
        http://www.facebok.com/musicinbaby/ 
        http://www.facebook.com/institutomarques 
        EmptyBreak:MARKER 
        Twitter: @_Babypod [https://twitter.com/_Babypod ] 

     

(Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160613/378315 )

    Photo:
    http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160613/378315

    Video:
    http://www.multivu.com/players/uk/7859951-institut-marques-babies-react-mother-voice

Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160613/378315
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160613/378315
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
Video:http://www.multivu.com/players/uk/7859951-institut-marques-babies-react-mother-voice
Institut Marquès