Music can have a profound effect on people’s brains, as many studies
have found. It can reduce stress, improve cognitive ability, elevate mood, and help
people perform better in high-pressure situations. Evidence is
showing that music might be useful as a tool for stimulating the development of
babies’ brains while they are still in the womb.
This idea is based around the recent discovery that the development of a
prenatal baby’s auditory
organs actually occurs quite early into the pregnancy. Researchers have
found that at around 16 weeks, a baby gains the ability to perceive auditory
queues and may even respond to them. Development of the brain is also elevated
during this phase.
Mothers who regularly sing or read to their babies during their
pregnancy often report that their children are better behaved than their peers
and exhibit superior learning skills. Additionally, mothers who used prenatal
sound systems— specialized equipment designed to direct sounds into a mothers’
womb during her pregnancy—have observed differences between children who were
exposed to such systems as opposed to those who weren’t.
While the idea of using music to improve prenatal development and, consequently,
affect children’s cognitive abilities after birth has yet to be studied in
depth, what anecdotal evidence there is seems to support that fact. It is
understandable, therefore, that parents would jump at the chance to give their children
a competitive edge—because, realistically, what parent wouldn’t?
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