Pregophones...Music for the unborn child.

I am expecting my first child in a couple of months, and like many first time parents, I have been researching everything there is to know about these little wonders. My wife and I have been discussing music for our child, but have not been able to find an easy or practical way of letting our little guy listen to music, therefore the Pregophones.....

There are several theories out there for the use of music and your foetus, One being the introduction of music during pregnancy to condition the baby i.e. Training the baby to react when specific styles of music are played.

It is generally conceived that babies tend to sleep in the womb when the mother is up and about. This is due to the rocking effect that is present when the mother is moving. When the mother is more stationary the baby tends to be awake.

We want to introduce music to the baby when he was sleeping so we could condition the baby to associate sleep with a particular style of music, thus we needed something portable that could be worn while my wife is out and about.

I apologize if the pics and video are not the greatest, trying out a new camera.

PLEASE NOTE: excessive noise can be harmful to the foetus, use responsibly

Step 1: Materials and Tools

The materials and tools for this project are quite cheap and easy to find.

Tools:

Scissors
Needle and Thread
Hot glue gun (optional)
Measuring tape

Materials:

Self adhesive Velcro strips  Both hook and loop
Self adhesive Velcro buttons
Elastic waist band (at least 30 cm wide)
Cheap set of stereo headphones
MP3 Player

The total cost for this project, minus the MP3 player was about 3 pounds ($6.00 US) and I was able to get all the materials in local shops.

Comments

[EvilDefman]

I have a better suggestion: Neurophone, invented by Pat Flanagan, would do the job more perfectly; deliver sound - classical music or whatever, to the foetus in 3D surround-sound. You would literally bathe the foetus in beautiful music, and I imagined what that would be like, fantastic. The special transducers that these device uses, is placed next to your skin and your favourite music is delivered through your skin. You "hear" the music in your head, not in your ears. This makes it the best device in the world for delivering perfect music to your foetus without any waters distorting the sound. Neurophone is a great way to deliver the music, and you can't make it go any louder, there is no "loud". Just self-automatic sound that goes straight in, no obstacles to worry about. So I wonder if anyone had tested this Neurophone as in Prego-Neurophone. How about using Neurophone as a way to deliver texts to the unborn, the special transducers which is designed for skin-contact, delivers the sound (music, etc) at a different frequency. This is a great idea. Anyway, this PregoPhones is a good idea, a bit primitive, but with a Neurophone, you'd be more 100% instead of the 1% as with plain speakers. No worries.

[jankoplasti]

I believe that the fluids in the womb would filter out most or all of the high frequencies produced by cheap headphones rendering this gadget useless. Think of what you can hear when you are underwater.

[scooter76]

Maybe so, but remember, there is less then 2 pints of fluid in the womb. The baby does not need to hear everything, just the melody would be enough. My son was born just over a week ago, and we are playing the same music when he was in the womb when he sleeps now, and it seems to be working. The foetus can hear a surprisingly large range of frequencies and can tell the difference between the parents voices. I know there is no concrete evidence that this works, but through by brief experience with it, it is working like a charm

[jessmair]

Malcolm this is awesome, can't wait to get preggers again so I can have one!

[mellowjonny]

If/when a female allows me to impregnate her I would be glad to use this this product.

[letynoname]

It's incredibly good!!! I want one when I get pregnant!!!

[ru5]

Fantastic! A beautifully creative way to interact with new baby. I love it.

[larameischke]

Love this! I rather the idea of quiet baroque being piped into the belly whilst shopping.

[beetleman]

Got my vote, good luck

[zoomum]

Does your Wife like them? Cool idea

[Damage, Inc.]

Aww, I was hoping for a phone made out of pasta sauce. :(

[scooter76]

Would be interesting, but might be messy around the ears

[Damage, Inc.]

and yet it would be tasty around the mouth! you can't have your cake and eat it too, you know. err, eat your pasta sauce phone and not get some in your ear. I think that's how the saying goes.

[lunchboxslayer27]

lol

[luvit]

thanks. my child looks like axl rose.

[etb]

We used music near the pelvis to encourage the baby to turn, since it was getting late for it to do and we were worried about a breach delivery. And it worked - no joke. Almost immediately

[scooter76]

Great to know. What type of music did you use?

[UC FATHER TIME]

Got to get some Zeplin ;Rush ,Mozart,and,Bach in that order.

[beetleman]

Neat, but how do you know the baby likes it? I have a family member who is expecting, I will show her this and see if she wants to try it. Great job.

[St Andy]

Really cool idea. Let us know how it works out, and good luck with the birth.

[Weissensteinburg]

That's a great idea! And i'm not hating the name, either.

[scooter76]

I worried about the name, but thought it was catching, might need to reconsider. Thanks for the positive comment.

[Yerboogieman]

Play piano and violin music.

[Gilo]

How do you hook up the piano? :) Joke joke joke! This is an interesting project. Does anybody know of any studies down on this? G

[scooter76]

Thanks for the comment, see my response to wobbler above, might answer some of your questions. All the best

[wobbler]

I notice you've put "PLEASE NOTE: excessive noise can be harmful to the foetus, use responsibly" but has anyone done any real research as to the levels that could potentially cause harm to a developing foetuses ears? As I have tinnitus I would be loath to try putting continuous music or extra noise into the womb without adequate research as the the actual levels at which any damage may occur over extended periods may actually be quite low at that stage of a baby's development. I would suspect thought that there isn't any actual research as it would be very difficult to quantise any effects. I haven't found anything relevent in an admittedly quick search. Personally, I would play safe and just let environmental music/sounds drift in rather than feed sound in directly.

[scooter76]

There is not a lot of research on this, however through wives tales and "individuals personal experience" this can be beneficial to the baby. Obviously you would not blare 100 decibel music into the womb. Our midwife gave us the all clear, and the level of noise that this device produces is nowhere near harmful. You are more likely to subject the baby to louder noise through the everyday environment (TV, street noise, etc.) I but the warning in case someone was inclined to but there 100 watt speakers next to their belly. Similar research does state that there is no proof that this increases the baby's intelligence, however they can familiarise themselves with the sounds introduced to them while in the womb. It is also important to note that the foetus does not develop the ability to hear sound till the second trimester. We are in the final weeks of pregnancy, and would have hesitated to do this any sooner. I can confirm that the foetus does respond to specific music at the moment, However, I am not sure if it is because he loves or hates Bob Marley. Thanks for the comment, and if I find more research, I would be happy to pass it on to you. I will also post updates on this instructable after the baby is born, to see if it had any effect. All the best

[idogis1]

I can vouch for this. My mom used to blast folk music over the stereo when she was pregnant for me. To this day folk music makes me feel calm and safe. Congrats on your spawn.

[scooter76]

Thanks for the comment and congrats

[jeff-o]

Good to know. I'll have to blast my next unborn child with prog rock. ;)

[wobbler]

I notice you've put "PLEASE NOTE: excessive noise can be harmful to the foetus, use responsibly" but has anyone done any real research as to the levels that could potentially cause harm to a developing foetuses ears? As I have tinnitus I would be loath to try putting continuous music or extra noise into the womb without adequate research as the the actual levels at which any damage may occur over extended periods may actually be quite low at that stage of a baby's development. I would suspect thought that there isn't any actual research as it would be very difficult to quantise any effects. I haven't found anything relevent in an admittedly quick search. Personally, I would play safe and just let environmental music/sounds drift in rather than feed sound in directly.