Effect on the fetus of listening to music during pregnancy

An investigation has explored to what extent the music captured during pregnancy influences the brain development of the baby.

When pregnant women sing to the baby or listen to music through speakers every day during gestation, babies are born with a better capacity for neural encoding of language sounds. This is one of the main conclusions of the study, led by Professor Carles Escera, head of the Brainlab (Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group) of the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Barcelona (UB), the Institute of Neurosciences of the UB ( UBneuro) and the Sant Joan de Déu Research Institute (IRSJD) in Barcelona.

The study results provide new insights into the effects of prenatal music exposure on speech stimuli from a specific brain response: the neonatal frequency-following response (RSF) response. , a neurophonic auditory evoked potential that reports proper neural encoding of speech sounds.

According to the conclusions, daily musical exposure during the last weeks of pregnancy is associated with an improved encoding of low-frequency sound components, a fact that could improve the newborn’s perception of pitch.

The work has been carried out in collaboration with the expert Lola Gómez-Roig, Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Hospital Sant Joan de Déu in Barcelona and researcher at the Sant Joan de Déu Research Institute (IRSJD). The researcher Teresa Ribas-Prats (UB-UBneuro-IRSJD) has also participated in the work, who had already worked with this technique in a previous exploratory work in 2019.

Daily music exposure during the last weeks of pregnancy is associated with enhanced encoding of low-frequency sound components. (Photo: UB)

RSF recording and speech stimuli

The tracking frequency response (RSF) is conditioned by a variety of speech and language impairments, and has been shown to be affected by the fetal environment and prenatal acoustic environment as well. For this reason, the study researchers propose that this measure could be used as a biomarker to detect the risk of language disorders and establish preventive measures in the early stages of life.

The work is based on the comparison of the RSF records in 60 healthy newborns (between 12 and 72 hours), among which there were 29 who were exposed to music daily during the prenatal period and another 31 without musical exposure. Specifically, the encephalogram recording of babies to two different speech stimuli was analysed: the stimulus /da/ —the most widely used in research with FFR and newborns—, and /oa/, which makes it possible to analyze the coding of frequencies to which the newborn has been exposed in the womb.

Neural plasticity and hearing in babies

The study reveals that daily exposure to music during the last trimester of pregnancy is related to a more robust encoding of speech stimuli.

Prenatal exposure to music is associated with fine-tuned encoding of the fundamental frequency of human speech, which may facilitate early language acquisition and processing. “Musical stimulation reaches the auditory system with low-frequency rhythmic components that train it to organize neural plasticity,” says doctoral student Sonia Arenillas-Alcón, first author of the study and member of Brainlab.

The work also finds that exposure to music during pregnancy has no effect on neural transmission speed, in contrast to the faster processing speed of auditory and speech stimuli identified in musically trained adults, which is the result of myelination of underlying neuronal structures.

“This is only the first step towards a specific clinical application after the necessary follow-up studies,” says Professor Carles Escera. “Thus, those children who present a reduced brain response, for example, babies born with normative underweight, could benefit from a musical intervention program.”

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The study is titled “Prenatal daily musical exposure is associated with enhanced neural representation of speech fundamental frequency: Evidence from neonatal frequency-following responses.” And it has been published in the academic journal Developmental Science. (Source: UB)