At week 6, the canals of the inner ear will form, then at week 8, the shell shaped parts of the ears will form, and at week 11, the outer ear will already appear, low set on the baby’s head, until they will settle in their final position at week 16. At 18 weeks, the ears start to stick out at the sides of the head, and the baby begins to hear, albeit through their fluid filled ears.. At 22 weeks into the pregnancy, a fetus will respond to sound with an increased heart rate, proving that at this time, the baby reacts to sound. Although the baby can detect sounds …show more content…
A study conducted by Pacific Lutheran University shows that at 32 weeks into the pregnancy, a baby is listening to their mothers and can recognize what they heard after birth. At approximately week number 36 a baby can sense the moods …show more content…
A study was conducted in Tacoma and Stockholm, Sweden on 40 – 30 hour old newborn regarding their recognition of different sounds. They were given pacifiers to suck on that were wired into a computer that measured their sucking patterns. In reaction to familiar sounds and languages, the babies sucks were shorter and in reaction to unfamiliar sounds and to foreign languages, they sucked the pacifier for a longer amount of time. The vowel sounds are the loudest sounds that can be heard in the womb, and therefore, the fetus becomes most familiar with these sounds of his or her language. The results of this experiment prove that babies learn to differentiate between the sounds that can be heard in the uterus. Studies have shown that a fetus is calmer in uterus when their mother speaks her everyday language, as opposed to a foreign one. As well, an unborn baby responds well to the sound of music being