Ten mums-to-be have attended a Christmas concert in which their babies were able to enjoy carols through Babypod, the first device to emit music inside the vagina.
This revolutionary invention enabled unborn babies to clearly hear songs like “All I want for Christmas is you” and “White Christmas” performed by the Spanish singer, Soraya, at the show.
Babypod is the result of a study by Spanish researchers whose data shows that foetuses respond to music by waking up and making vocalisation movements with their mouths and tongues. The research concludes that the use of music stimulates the development of the unborn baby.
Learning from the womb
“From the 16th week of gestation, the foetus is capable of responding to musical stimuli. We can therefore say that learning begins in the womb”, Marisa López Teijón, the study’s head researcher explained.
“When music was applied vaginally, 87 per cent of foetuses moved their mouths or tongues and around 50 per cent opened their jaws very wide and pulled out their tongues to the limit”, the specialist added.
The applications of Babypod are not restricted to stimulating embryonic and foetal development. As Dr López Teijón explains, this device also enabled one “to rule out foetal deafness, to make ultra-scans more efficient by inducing foetal movement, to reduce stress in women who feel very anxious when they cannot detect movements and to open an important line of pre- and postnatal research at many levels”.
A unique experience
The parents who participated in the Christmas concert highlighted the unique nature of the experience. “It was marvellous to see, first hand, how my son responded with movements to the songs. Knowing that both of us were listening to the same thing in our first shared experience was very moving”, said Marta Tapia, a mother in the audience.
The singer herself also remarked on the unique nature of the show. With motherhood among her plans, Soraya said that singing for unborn babies was special and very touching: “I never imagined that I would play to such a young audience! We all felt a really special energy with the babies’ movement. It’s fantastic to see how important music is in our lives, even before we are born”, she added.
The science behind the Babypod
The study “Fetal facial expression in response to intravaginal music emission”, published in the Ultrasound journal of the British Medical Ultrasound Society, gathers the results of the clinical trial conducted on over 100 pregnant patients who were between their 14th and 39th weeks of pregnancy.
The participants were divided into three groups, with each utilising a different type of foetal stimulation: music emitted through the abdomen, music through the vagina and non-musical sound vibrations also emitted vaginally.
Those pregnant women who received music vaginally were fitted with a device specifically designed for the study and capable of emitting at an average intensity of 54 decibels, which is the equivalent of a quiet conversation or ambient music. The chosen piece was Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Partita in A Minor for Flute Alone – BWV 1013”.
The research team employed ultrasound to compare the reactions of the foetuses and the results proved statistically significant: music emitted through the abdomen or sound vibrations did not produce changes in the expressions of the foetuses, while music emitted vaginally did.
How it works
Babypod is fitted like a tampon and is connected to a mobile phone to start playing music, emitted at 54 decibels, an intensity that is the equivalent of a normal conversation.