But, it got me wondering, can a fetus in the womb even hear anything?

但我不禁懷疑，子宮裡的胚胎聽得到任何聲音嗎？

Hi guys, Lissette here for Dnews.

大家好，我是 Dnews 的 Lissette。

In utero, a fetus' auditory system starts forming at around the 18th week of pregnancy and becomes functional at around the 25th week.

在子宮內，胚胎的聽力系統約在孕期的第 18 週開始形成，約在第 25 週時開始運作。

At this point, the fetus is thought to be able to perceive sound.

此時，胎兒應該能夠聽到聲音。

In fact, the period from 25 weeks of gestation to 6 months of age is critical to auditory development.

實際上，妊娠期第 25 週到寶寶六個月大的這段期間，是聽力發展的關鍵期。

This is when the neurosensory system is trained to perceive and differentiate sounds.

這段期間，寶寶的神經感官系統開始學著察覺並分辨聲音。

In other words, unlike your eyes, your ear requires exposure to sound in order to fully develop, so early exposure to sounds can be beneficial.

也就是說，與雙眼不同的是，耳朵需要接觸聲音才能發展完全，所以早點讓胎兒接觸各種聲音是有益的。

But this doesn’t mean fetuses can hear in the same way you do.

但這不代表胎兒聽到的聲音跟你一樣。

Because they are in their mother's body, sounds coming from the outside are somewhat muffled.

因為寶寶在媽媽的體內，所以來自外面的聲音會有點模糊不清。

High frequency sounds have trouble passing through the mother’s abdominal walls, tissue and fluids.

高頻的聲音無法穿透媽媽的肚皮、體內組織和羊水。

So, fetuses are more able to perceive lower tones, and of course those that are louder.

所以，胎兒比較能夠聽到低一點的聲調，當然，要大聲一點才能讓他們聽到。

Yet, despite this filter, many studies have found that, that just days after they’re born, babies can distinguish their mother’s voice from other female voices, and even prefer their mother’s native tongue.

然而，儘管有這些天然過濾器，許多研究發現，嬰兒出生幾天後便能在其他女性的聲音中分辨出媽媽的聲音，甚至偏愛媽媽的母語。

But some moms choose to add classical music to this equation.

但是有些媽媽選擇添加古典音樂的播放。

This trend is known as the “Mozart effect” and has sparked a lucrative industry with thousands of CDs being sold to parents with the promise of making their babies smarter.

這股趨勢稱為「莫札特效應」，並引起了一種有利可圖的產業，商人製造上千張 CD 販售給父母，並聲稱這些音樂能夠讓寶寶更聰明。

But, there is actually very little evidence to support this claim.

然而，能證明這項說法的證據其實微乎其微。

In fact, even the researcher behind the paper that spread the commercial madness has come out and said that her findings were "grossly misapplied and over-exaggerated."

事實上，甚至連促成這場商業熱潮的研究學者都跳出來表示，她的研究結果「遭到嚴重的濫用並被過份誇大。」

However, there is some evidence that music is better than random noise.

無論如何，有些證據顯示，音樂的作用比隨意的聲音好得多。

In fact, a 2013 study conducted by researchers at the University of Helsinki found that babies who were played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and other tunes in utero were able to recognize the melody when they were tested at 4 months old.

實際上，2013 年一份由赫爾辛基大學的學者發表的研究發現，在子宮內就開始聽小星星或其他曲子的寶寶，可以在四個月大時就辨認出該曲調。

The researchers monitored the babies' brain activation with an EEG while they played different sounds, and those who'd been played the melody in utero had higher levels of brain activation.

研究者在播放不同音樂的同時，用腦電波圖觀察寶寶的大腦活動，而出生前就聽過該旋律的寶寶，大腦活動的頻率更高。

The researchers argue that extensive prenatal exposure to a melody induces neural representations that last for several months.

研究學者們爭論到：「出生前廣泛接觸一項旋律，會引發持續好幾個月的神經表現。」

Now, the jury is still out on whether this constitutes true learning, but it’s clear that music influences neural patterns.

這項研究是否可信仍未定論，但音樂對神經模式的影響確實存在。

What’s more, another study suggests that prenatal exposure to music can impact neonatal behavior.

此外，另一份研究顯示，出生前聆聽音樂會影響新生兒的行為。

In a clinical study of more than 250 infants, researchers found that infants whose pregnant mothers were exposed to music, scored higher on 5 of the 7 areas of the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale.

在一份案例超過 250 名嬰兒的臨床研究中，研究學者發現在懷孕期間接觸音樂的媽媽，生下的嬰兒在貝佐頓新生兒行為評估表的七個部分中，有五個部分會獲得較高的分數。

These babies performed significantly better when tasked with following an object with their eyes, responding to animate vs inanimate objects and how quickly they recognized that an object was familiar.

這些寶寶在以下三項測試中：用眼睛跟隨物體轉動、對有生命和無生命物體的反應、辨認出熟悉物體的速度，都表現得比其他寶寶優秀，。

And those are a pretty big deal to babies.

這些測試的內容對寶寶來說不是件容易的事。

So there is definitely some evidence to support that early exposure to music helps with fetal development, but more research is needed.

所以絕對有一些證據可以證明，在初期讓胚胎聆聽音樂可以幫助胚胎發展，但我們還需要更多研究。

And no studies have conclusively found that when babies are in the womb, Mozart is any better than Bieber.

而且還沒有確切地研究可以證實，對子宮中的胎兒來說，莫札特的音樂比小賈斯汀好。

So with or without music being blasted at bellies, babies end up being pretty smart.

所以無論有沒有在肚子中聽到音樂，寶寶最終都會變得相當聰明。

To learn why babies are way smarter than you think, check out Julia's awesome video here.

想要了解為何寶寶比你認為的還要聰明，可以去看看 Julia 的影片。

A recent study published in the journal developmental science found that babies can reason logically even before the age of 1 which apparently researchers thought people couldn't do it until the age of 5 or 6.

最近發表在發展科學期刊中的一項研究指出，在一歲前，寶寶就可以有邏輯的思考，顯然地，研究員認為人類到五、六歲才可能做到。

And you don't have choice on what you heard when you were in the womb but what do you choose to listen to today and how does that affect you?

在子宮內時，你無法選擇你想聽見的聲音，但你今天選擇看的這部影片對你有何影響呢？

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在下方的留言區發表言論吧！

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