Medicine: Music in the Womb

At London's University College Hospital, Obstetrician C. N. Smyth and Audiologist K. P. Murphy were trying to find out why some babies are born deaf. To their surprise, they discovered that even while normal babies are still in the womb they can not only hear musical tones, but usually respond to them by speeding up their heartbeat. The phenomenon may be observed as long as three months before the baby is due.

In their research, the British researchers report in the Lancet, they generated musical tones of 500 cycles per second (about an octave above...

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