People often wonder if a fetus can hear while in the womb. Many expectant parents will speak to or play music for a developing fetus. Evidence suggests that the auditory system starts forming at the 18th week of pregnancy and continues to develop until the baby is between 5 and 6 months of age. Everything that the fetus hears will contribute to this process. In this article, we look at what a fetus can hear at different stages of development. Despite being close to a lentil in size, an embryo will begin to develop ears during the 2nd month of pregnancy.
What and when can a fetus hear?
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Fetal development: Your baby's hearing | BabyCenter
Those kicks remind you of the life inside. They tell you that your happiness is growing in your womb and will soon come out and join your lives. Not just that. They indicate that the fetus is having a healthy growth. Interested to know more about the amazing baby kicks? Read here as Momjunction shares some unbelievable facts and answers tricky questions.
Difficulty Hearing Baby's Heartbeat in Early Pregnancy
Thanks to the magic of ultrasound and other high-tech tools, researchers have discovered that your baby is living in an auditory playground, responding to voices and other sounds they hear outside of the womb. Studies have found that a fetus can hear sounds, though muffled, at as early as 20 weeks and by the third trimester their hearing is intact. Sonograms show that your baby may turn their head in response to a noise.
And though it probably will sound the same to you from checkup to checkup, there are big changes happening to the heart and circulatory system every week! In the early stages, the heart resembles a tube that twists and divides, eventually forming the heart and valves which open and close to release blood from the heart to the body. In fact, by week 5, the heart tube begins to beat spontaneously, though you can't hear it. During those first few weeks, precursor blood vessels also begin to form in the embryo. In just two more weeks, that number will rise to beats a minute.
