In-womb surround sound? A new way to rock your baby

Music industry glitterati took home free the Ritmo Advanced Pregnancy Sound Systemsby Nuvo along with the rest of the enviable graft in their gratis Grammy Awards MusiCares goody bags this year. Designed to support a pregnant belly, aid in fetal development, and provide, "unparalleled quality and safe sound to prenatal listeners," the system aspires to be a multi-tasking baby Bose for the in-utero crowd.

I saw August Rush, I get the idea. Nuvo, however, cites scientific studies to prove its case.

Dr. Alexandra Lamont from Leicester University's Music Research Group at the School of Psychology (UK) reported 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.," he said. "Babies can remember and prefer music that they heard before they were born."

In addition, Nuvo notes information from authors Sloboda and Deliege, who wrote Musical Beginnings:Origins and Development of Musical Competence (1996) and stated, "musical interactions from the earliest moments are directly related to brain development and may be the building blocks for future musical ability, intellectual development, and ultimately functioning in the culture in which the child lives".