Recent Study Reveals That Babies Start Learning Language In The Womb.

It could come up as surprising that babies have any contact with the outside world before they are born, but new evidence has come to light that suggests that babies can hear noises from inside the womb. Surprisingly, babies use language at a young age.

Unborn babies start to respond to noises sometimes between the 24th and 30th weeks of pregnancy. That means they begin to process sounds and distinguish among most of them, especially vowels since they are the most audible. It is interesting to note that they respond specifically to language, as opposed to other sounds. Studies have shown that newborns, immediately after birth, show increased brain activity when listening to a speech segment, as opposed to the same segment played backwards, or silence. Considering that they have this reaction immediately after birth, it is only logical to conclude that they developed this response in the womb as fetuses. It is also thought that fetuses as such have a similar response to voices and speech patterns in the womb. 

Pre-birth exposure to language is also documented in studies which show that unborn babies develop the ability to recognize the sound pattern of their native language, preferring it to that of languages they haven’t heard before. In one study, unborn babies were shown to not only distinguish their mother’s voice from that of other people, but they could also recognize their native language (Igbo in this case) over a foreign language (say, English).

The first incremental steps in the formidable task of language learning start in the womb. As research into language progresses, it will reveal more and more about this mysterious human ability.