Even simple things like describing what you are doing, singing a lullaby, or reading a story for a few minutes a day can make a difference. It helps your baby feel comforted and safe, while starting to form a bond with you long before they enter the world.
In this article:
When Does a Baby Start Hearing in the Womb?
Your baby’s ears start forming very early in pregnancy. While hearing is not yet functional, the essential structures of the auditory system begin to develop.- Week 18: Around the 18th week, the tiny auditory pathways in your baby’s body start picking up internal sounds and vibrations. Rhythms such as your heartbeat and the flow of blood become the first familiar “sounds” your baby experiences.
- Week 24: Around 24 weeks, your baby can begin identifying your voice among other sounds. When the mother speaks, the baby’s movements often slow down, and the heart rate becomes calmer. This suggests the brain is already responding to your voice in a soothing, meaningful way.
- Late pregnancy: By the final weeks of pregnancy, your baby’s hearing reaches near-adult levels. This continued exposure to your voice helps strengthen early brain connections that support future learning and development.
Can Your Baby Recognise Your Voice After Birth?
Your baby’s bond with your voice doesn’t begin after birth; it starts long before you ever meet face to face:- Before birth: Even before your baby is born, they hear your voice again and again inside the womb. Over time, this repetition helps them “memorise” its sound. So by the time they arrive in the world, your voice already feels safe and familiar.
- First 1 to 2 days after birth: In the first couple of days, newborns can actually tell the difference between their mother’s voice and other female voices.
- First month: It can take a few weeks for your baby to fully separate your voice from background noise and other people’s voices. But in a calm, quiet space, your baby will recognise you much faster.
- After birth: Once your baby is born, their ears are no longer surrounded by fluid. This means sounds are sharper and clearer, and your voice stands out more. This is one reason why your voice can feel calming and reassuring to your baby.
- For preterm babies: Babies born early miss out on some of that in-womb listening time. But playing recordings of the mother’s voice can really help.
How Does a Mother’s Voice Affect a Baby’s Brain?
From the very first days of life to the growing years of childhood, your voice leaves a powerful imprint on your baby’s brain:- In newborns: Your voice doesn’t just get recognised by your baby, it actually activates specific parts of their brain more strongly than other voices. In newborns, hearing their mother’s voice activates regions such as the anterior prefrontal cortex and the left posterior temporal region. These parts of the brain are involved in processing and preparing for speech and language, which means your voice is already helping to build the foundation for communication.
- In childhood (ages 7 to 12): The response becomes even stronger. As children grow, the impact of their mother’s voice spreads across a much larger network of the brain. In a study done by Stanford University, children listened to “nonsense” words spoken by either their mother or another woman, so that meaning didn’t influence the results. Even then, they correctly identified their mother’s voice more than 97 per cent of the time, often in less than a second.
What Are the Benefits of a Mother’s Voice for a Baby?
These are the key advantages scientists have found:- Calms the baby in the womb: Hearing your voice slows the baby’s heart rate and softens movement patterns, showing a clear calming effect even before birth.
- Balances stress and bonding hormones after birth: Your voice helps lower cortisol (the stress hormone) and increase oxytocin (the bonding hormone), which supports emotional connection and a sense of safety.
- Supports early language development: Repeated exposure to your voice helps build strong neural pathways that make it easier for your baby to learn language later.
- Helps the baby recognise your face faster: When your baby hears your voice while seeing your face, the brain connects sound with sight more quickly.
- Aids growth in preterm babies: For babies born early, listening to their mother’s voice has been linked to better feeding patterns and healthier weight gain.
- Deepens emotional bonding: If your baby has been hearing your voice throughout pregnancy, the emotional connection after birth is usually stronger and more natural.
- Supports overall brain development: Your voice encourages healthy activity across different parts of the brain, helping with overall neurological growth.
- Linked to better social skills later on: Children with stronger voice-related brain connections often find it easier to communicate, build bonds, and connect with others as they grow.
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FAQs on How Mother’s Voice Affects Baby’s Brain
- What sounds are too loud for babies in the womb?
Sounds louder than about 85 to 90 decibels, such as concerts, construction noise, or heavy machinery, can be stressful for the developing baby and should be avoided. - Does the father’s voice affect the baby’s brain?
Yes, if the father speaks regularly, his voice can also become familiar and support bonding and recognition after birth.
