There are countless studies that support prenatal auditory stimulation.
Here are a few selections:
Researchers in Belfast have demonstrated that reactive listening begins at 16 weeks g.a., two months sooner than other types of measurements indicated. Working with 400 fetuses, researchers in Belfast beamed a pure pulse sound at 250-500 Hz and found behavioral responses at 16 weeks g.a.--clearly seen via ultrasound (Shahidullah and Hepper, 1992). This is especially significant because reactive listening begins eight weeks before the ear is structurally complete at about 24 weeks.
During the last three months of pregnancy, an explosive phase of growth of the brain occurs in the prenatal infant (Lind, 1978). Part of this growth is the development of hearing: this phase can be seen to have far-reaching implications for the music educator. Current research shows that musical interactions from these earliest moments are directly related to brain development and may be the building blocks for future musical ability, intellectual development, and ultimately full functioning in the culture in which the child lives (Sloboda and Deliege, 1996).
T. Blum used a prenatal program consisting of various types of music. He reported facilitated development in orienting to sound, babbling, visual tracking and motor control. (Although there was no control group lacking music, the author did show that the behaviors exceeded population norms.) (Prenatal Perception, Learning, and Bonding, 1993.)
M.J. LaFuente did include a control group in her study of the effects of music on the rate of postnatal development. Beginning the 28th - 30th weeks, mothers played tapes of basic elements of music for a total of 50-90 hours across subjects. During infancy the music group exhibited significantly more rapid development of many behaviors, including babbling, visual tracking, eye-hand coordination, exploring objects with the mouth, facial imitation, general motor coordination and ability to hold the bottle with both hands.
Dr. Alexandra Lamont from Leicester University has shown that babies can remember sounds they heard in the womb more than a year after birth: 'This provides new evidence about the influence of nurture in early child development. Babies can remember and prefer music that they heard before they were born.'
The theory of multiple intelligences developed by Dr. Howard Gardner, Professor of Education at Harvard University, states that “among the many intelligences are words and music, linguistic intelligence and musical intelligence, which can be stimulated in utero.”
Dr. Thomas Verny and John Kelly wrote in "The Secret Life of the Unborn Child": 'A four or five month old foetus responds to sound and melody and responds in very discriminating ways. Put on calming music and even the most agitated baby relaxes. At the very least, a pregnant woman who spends a few minutes each day listening to soothing music could make her child feel more relaxed and tranquil'.
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