Um, babies distinguish between languages in the womb!?

We've all seen it (or done it!): parents reading books to their baby in the womb, maybe playing classical music, all in the hopes of fostering some early kind of intelligence in their little one. They're onto something - that baby in the womb is very receptive to what's going on around it. As new research suggests, babies are not only hearing you in utero, but detecting and developing their language skills too.

A study from the University Of Kansas is showing that babies can discriminate the different languages they hear from the womb. Previous research had suggested that, a few days after being born, babies are attuned to and respond differently to different languages (showing changes in the rate of their behaviour, like suckling). This lead researchers to wonder if this skill was developed solely after birth or if it began to emerge in utero. To do this, they used a magnetocardiogram; a non-invasive sensing technology, used to measure the magnetic field of the heart, which is far more sensitive than an ultrasound. Since the babies can't "hear" as we do (sounds coming through the womb are muffled, while the baby's bodies and systems are still in development), the magnetocardiogram was used to detect the slightest changes in heart rate as an indicator of reception and stimulus from the brain.

The womb is already a noisy place, with the mother's heart beat, bodily sounds and external environmental noises, so the baby's auditory system is already developing, but the researchers wanted to zero in on the specific effect different languages may have. 24 women, at an average of 8-months pregnant, underwent testing for the study. So the baby would respond to difference of language and not just difference of voice, the same bilingual speaker made one recording in English and one in Japanese. Both languages are said to have distinct rhythmic patterns, so even though the baby can't clearly hear the words, there is clear difference present.

The results showed that the babies notice this difference as well. After hearing the English recording followed by the Japanese one, the in utero heart rates showed a significant change, while the heart rates showed no change when they were presented with two English recordings in a row. Researchers are excited about this result; not only does it strongly suggest that language development is underway in utero, but also demonstrates that babies are tuning their frequencies to the language they hear from the womb. Recognizing and growing accustomed to the rhythm of the language they hear can be a crucial first step in how they develop linguistic skills after birth.

These findings open up possibilities of further research and other avenues of study. Now that we know a brain in utero is so receptive to the languages it hears, could it be possible to develop bilingual skills in the womb? We already know that bilingualism is an incredible mental asset (enhancing communication and literacy in children, while possibly even fighting Alzheimer's later in life), so fostering such a capacity in utero might be even more beneficial. This also speaks to the attention we should pay to the womb because, as we're continually finding out, there's an incredibly amount of development occurring in there. Another recent study uncovered that babies can even detect the shapes of faces while in the womb. So watch your language...Babe's listening.

RJ Skinner is an actor, writer and pro wrestler, so he rants and raves in various states of undress. Follow him on IG @rjcity and if you're feeling crafty, behold The Cynical Crafter.