✓ Mozart: Classical music is the favorite of the baby in the belly

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Maybe pop? Or rock? No ... much better classical music. The fetuses in the belly apparently would go crazy for ... Mozart!

This is supported by a study presented by the Institut Marquès at the fifth congress of the International Association for Music and Medicine which was held from 5 to 9 June.

Read also: music in pregnancy? Yes, thanks and music and children

According to the research, classical music causes more reactions in the fetus than other musical genres, with mouth movements similar to singing. In fact, 84% of fetuses show that they love the classical genre more than traditional music (79%) and pop-rock (59%). Preferences also confirmed by those who stick out their tongues while listening: classical music has obtained a higher percentage of protrusion (35%) than traditional (20%) and pop-rock (15%).

To understand what was the favorite music of the unborn, the researchers of Institut Marquès analyzed the facial expressions of 300 fetuses between the 18th and 38th week of gestation, in response to the intravaginal emission of 15 songs belonging to three different genres: classical, traditional and pop-rock.

Read also: music in pregnancy and for babies

The queen? A beloved exception

Although the pop-rock genre was the one that caused fewer reactions in the fetuses, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody is an exception.

Although the reasons that drive these preferences are still unknown, it could therefore be simple and repetitive sounds that conquer newborns: "Instinctively we continue to talk to babies in high tones and melodically, because we know that this is how they understand us best, that's how they realize that we want to communicate with them. Whether it is therefore a Mozart serenade or the ancestral sound of the African drum, the communicative power of melodies is undeniable. The oldest form of communication before being verbal was musical. Sounds, gestures and dances still precede words today ”explains Doctor Marisa López-Teijón, Director of Institut Marquès.