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Journal ArticleDOI

The Sound Environment of the Foetal Sheep

01 Jan 1982-Behaviour (Brill)-Vol. 81, Iss: 2, pp 296-315
TL;DR: The foetal lamb's sound environment consists of intermittent low frequency sounds associated largely with the ewe's feeding and digestive processes and sounds such as vocalisations from the flock, human voices and other sounds from outside the mother.
Abstract: The sound environment of the foetal lamb was recorded using a hydrophone implanted a few weeks before term in a small number of pregnant ewes. It was implanted inside the amniotic sac and sutured loosely to the foetal neck, to move with the foetus. Results differ from those reported earlier for the human foetus: sounds from the maternal cardiovascular system were picked up only rarely, at very low frequencies and at sound pressures around, or below, the human auditory threshold. Other sounds from within the mother occurred intermittently and rose to a high sound pressure only at frequencies above about 300 Hz. Sounds from outside the mother were picked up by the implanted hydrophone when the external sound level rose above 65-70 dB SPL, and the attenuation in sound pressure was rarely more than 30 dB and, especially at low frequencies, usually much less. However, attenuation due to the transmission of sound through the body wall and other tissues tended to change from time to time. It is concluded that the foetal lamb's sound environment consists of (1) intermittent low frequency sounds associated largely with the ewe's feeding and digestive processes and (2) sounds such as vocalisations from the flock, human voices and other sounds from outside the mother.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Four-day-old French and 2-month-old American infants distinguish utterances in their native languages from those of another language, and two experiments with low-pass-filtered versions of the samples replicated the main findings of discrimination of the native language utterances.

1,268 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a model is proposed to account for the way in which infant speech perception capacities evolve to support word recognition in fluent speech, and the model assumes that the early proficiencies displayed in many speech perception tasks with infants under six months old are the result of general auditory analyzers.

256 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article aims at reviewing data concerning the presence of potential sensory stimulation in the fetal milieu, the sequential functional development of the sensory systems and physiological and behavioral responses of fetuses to various types of stimulation.

182 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The difference in the between-groups responsiveness to the low-pass voice samples is consistent with the hypothesis that prenatal experience with low-frequency characteristics of maternal voices influences early postnatal perception of mothers' voices.
Abstract: By sucking on a nonnutritive nipple in the presence of one discriminative stimulus, newborns were reinforced with a low-pass filtered tape recording of their mothers' voices. Sucking in the presence of a different discriminative stimulus was reinforced with unfiltered maternal-voice recordings. Filtered versions simulated maternal-voice sounds that were available before birth and unfiltered versions simulated maternal-voice sounds available after birth. Newborns in the control group could be reinforced with the same stimuli in the same way, but the voices were unfamiliar to them. Infants hearing their mothers' voices had no preference for either version, but infants hearing the unfamiliar voices preferred the unfiltered version. The difference in the between-groups responsiveness to the low-pass voice samples is consistent with the hypothesis that prenatal experience with low-frequency characteristics of maternal voices influences early postnatal perception of maternal voices.

129 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Sixteen potentially better practices are identified and grouped into two operational clinical bundles based upon timing for recommended implementation based upon existing evidence.
Abstract: To review the existing evidence used to identify potentially better care practices that support newborn brain development. Literature review. Sixteen potentially better practices are identified and grouped into two operational clinical bundles based upon timing for recommended implementation. Existing evidence supports the implementation of selected care practices that potentially may support newborn brain development.

108 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
06 Jun 1980-Science
TL;DR: Hydrophones implanted inside the intact amniotic sac recorded sounds available to fetal lambs that were similar to normal conversation from outside the ewe and picked up without masking by maternal cardiovascular sounds.
Abstract: Hydrophones implanted inside the intact amniotic sac recorded sounds available to fetal lambs. Unlike recordings made from outside the intact amnion in human subjects, sounds produced at levels similar to normal conversation from outside the ewe were picked up without masking by maternal cardiovascular sounds. Noises from inside the mother were intermittent and linked to her activity.

95 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, sound transmission to the human foetus through the Maternal Abdominal Wall was studied and sound transmission was found to be beneficial for human foetal development.
Abstract: (1968). Sound Transmission to the Human Foetus through the Maternal Abdominal Wall. The Journal of Genetic Psychology: Vol. 113, No. 1, pp. 85-87.

68 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Pregnant guinea pigs were stimulated with a natural sound alien to their species and postnatally the response of their young to this sound was compared with that of unstimulated controls, suggesting that the Response of prenatally stimulated animals had waned before birth.

60 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Attempts were made to develop a relatively simple method of prenatal tests of hearing, and 134 fetuses of the 6th–10th month period of pregnancy were examined by means of this method, and one hundred and twenty-four of134 fetuses responded to the stimulating tones, while the remaining 10 showed no responses.
Abstract: Prenatal tests of hearing are practically of great value in making an early diagnosis of deafness. Attempts were made to develop a relatively simple method of prenatal tests of hearing, and 134 fetuses of the 6th–10th month period of pregnancy were examined by means of this method. Pure tones of frequency 500, 1,000 and 2,000 Hz generated by a conventional audiometer were used as acoustic stimuli. Movements of the fetus as well as changes in the fetal pulse rate occurring during or immediately after the stimulation were used as criteria for the auditory response. One hundred and twenty-four of 134 fetuses responded to the stimulating tones, while the remaining 10 showed no responses. No responses were found in the fetuses in the 6th month of pregnancy.

26 citations