Parents filling their homes with 'intellect-enhancing' classical music, fathers insisting their unborn children should get used to their own taste in music by blasting the car stereo with Van Halen, mothers reading Shakespeare to their bumps... All these tricks and many more have been practised by parents hopeful of improving their baby's lot before it's even born. But do such ideas really work?
Voice recognition
Despite the claims of occasional studies, there is no solid proof that your child will turn into a lierary genius or a great composer just because he is offered fine aural arts rather than regular doses of your favourite soap opera. Some studies do claim that a baby will start talking earlier, but this is not thoroughly tested. However, making that connection with the womb via sound stimulation is certainly a positive route to bonding, just as your voice will be an important and reassuring link with your baby from birth onwards.
By about six months, a fetus has well-developed hearing and by birth a baby is already familiar with a mother's voice, and possibly other voices frequently heard whilst still in the womb. Also, some research does seem to suggest that an already familiar piece of music can soothe a newborn baby. This probably helps in the same way that CDs of sounds which seek to recreate the 'roar' of white noise in the womb can give the baby something he reconises in order to reduce anxiety and calm him down.
Does noise annoy?
If you play music loudly, you may well feel some movement because unborn babies will sometimes wake from sleeping if outside conditions suddenly change in volume. But there is no clear evidence that persistent loud noise harms the unborn child (say, if the mother works in a factory), and you shoudn't be worried about attending the odd loud concert - the thunderous gurgles of your own body are something he is accustomed to. Of course, there may be plenty of other reasons why you don't have the enthusiasm for a rock concert like you used to, but if you have the energy - enjoy!
