Breaking news: it’s not white noise . . . not at all!
At around 18 weeks, the unborn baby starts to hear, and these first audio experiences will be sounds of the body, like the swoosh of amniotic fluid or the maternal heartbeat. As babies enter their 6th and 7th months, the auditory world expands to sounds from beyond the womb – voice and music, or loud noises – creating a rich and variable mix of internal and external stimuli that are already beginning to set the stage for the establishment of language networks in the brain. Follow along in the video to get a sense of the auditory experience that the womb provides.