Generic placeholder image

Current Women`s Health Reviews

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1573-4048
ISSN (Online): 1875-6581

Systematic Review Article

The Impact of Maternal Voice on the Fetus: A Systematic Review

Author(s): Maria Eduarda Salgado Carvalho*, João Manuel Rosado de Miranda Justo, Maya Gratier and Helena Maria Ferreira Rodrigues da Silva

Volume 15, Issue 3, 2019

Page: [196 - 206] Pages: 11

DOI: 10.2174/1573404814666181026094419

Price: $65

Abstract

Background: Studies have shown pre-natal memory underlining the ability of newborns to discriminate maternal vs. other voices and to recognize linguistic stimuli presented prenatally by the mother. The fetus reacts to maternal voice at the end of gestation but it is important to clarify the indicators and conditions of these responses.

Objective: To understand the state of the art concerning: 1) indicators of fetal reactions to maternal voice vs. other voices; 2) conditions of maternal voice required to obtain fetal response, 3) neonatal recognition of maternal voice and of linguistic material presented prenatally and 4) obstetric and behavioral maternal conditions compromising fetal ability to discriminate between maternal and other female voices.

Method: Systematic review using EBSCO, WEBSCIENCE and MEDLINE. Eligibility: studies with maternal voice delivered before birth as stimulus and with fetal or neonatal behavior as responses.

Results: Fetal responses to maternal voice are observed through fetal cardiac, motor (fetal yawning decrease, mouth opening, fetal body movements) and brain responses (activation of the lower bank of the left temporal lobe). Newborns’ head orientation and non-nutritive sucking are shown as being neonatal indicators.

Conclusion: Gestational age, baseline measures (fetal state, acoustic conditions and pre-stimulus time) and obstetrical conditions may enable or compromise fetal discrimination between maternal and other voices. The role of maternal voice for prenatal human bonding needs to be discussed according to different maternity conditions such as surrogate mothers. A new paradigm is suggested; the focus of research should be on maternal-fetal interaction under the presence of maternal voice.

Keywords: Prenatal maternal voice, fetal responses, neonatal behavior, fetal cardiac response, fetal motor response, fetal brain response, obstetric conditions.

Graphical Abstract

[1]
DeCasper AJ, Fifer WP. Of human bonding: Newborns prefer their mother’s voices. Science 1980; 208: 1174-6.
[2]
DeCasper AJ, Spence MJ. Prenatal maternal speech influences newborns’ perception of speech sound. Infant Behav Dev 1986; 9: 133-50.
[3]
Spence MJ, DeCasper AJ. Prenatal experience with low-frequency maternal-voice sounds influence neonatal perception of maternal voice samples. Infant Behav Dev 1987; 10(2): 133-42.
[4]
DeCasper AJ, Lecanuet J-P, Busnel M-C, Granier-Deferre C, Maugeais R. Fetal reactions to recurrent maternal speech. Infant Behav Dev 1994; 17: 159-64.
[5]
Spence MJ, Freeman MS. Newborn infants prefer the maternal low-pass filtered voice, but not the maternal whispered voice. Infant Behav Dev 1996; 19: 199-212.
[6]
Lecanuet J-P, Granier-Deferre C, Jacquet A-Y, DeCasper AJ. Fetal discrimination of low-pitched musical notes. Dev Psychobiol 2000; 36: 29-39.
[7]
Groome LJ, Mooney DM, Holland SB, Smith LA, Atterbury JL, Dykman RA. Behavioral state affects heart rate response to low-intensity sound in human fetuses. Early Hum Dev 1999; 54: 39-54.
[8]
Lecanuet J-P, Granier-Deferre C, DeCasper AJ, Maugeais R, Andrieu A-J, Busnel M-C. Perception et discrimination foetales de stimuli langagiers; mise en évidence à partir de la réactivité cardiaque, résultats préliminaires. C R Acad Sci III 1987; T. 305: 161-4.
[9]
Lecanuet J-P, Granier-Deferre C, Busnel M-C. Differential fetal auditory reactiveness as a function of stimulus characteristic and state. Semin Perinatol 1989; 13: 421-9.
[10]
Hepper PG, Shahidullah S. Development of fetal hearing. Arch Dis Child 1994; 71: F81-7.
[11]
Al-Qahtani NH. Foetal response to music and voice. Aust N Z J Obstet Gynaecol 2005; 45: 414-7.
[12]
Granier-Deferre C, Ribeiro A, Jacquet A-Y, Bassereau S. Near-term fetuses process temporal features of speech. Dev Sci 2011; 14(2): 336-52.
[13]
Lecanuet J-P, Granier-Deferre C, Jacquet A-Y, Busnel M-C. Decelerative cardiac responsiveness to acoustical stimulation in the near term fetus. Q J Exp Psychol B 1992; 448(3/4): 279-303.
[14]
Lecanuet J-P, Granier-Deferre C, Jacquet A-Y, Capponi I, Ledru L. Prenatal discrimination of a male and a female voice uttering the same sentence. Early Dev Parent 1993; 2(4): 217-28.
[15]
Clarkson MG, Berg WK. Cardiac orienting and vowel discrimination in newborns: crucial stimulus parameters. Child Dev 1983; 54: 162-71.
[16]
Kisilevsky BS, Sylvia MJ, Hains S. Exploring the relationship between fetal heart rate and cognition. Infant Child Dev 2010; 19: 60-75.
[17]
Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. PLoS Med 2009; 6: e1000097.
[18]
Krueger C, Cave E, Garvan C. Fetal response to live and recorded maternal speech. Biol Res Nurs 2015; 17(1): 112-20.
[19]
Einspieler C, Prayer D, Prechtl H. Behavioural states.Fetal behaviour: a neurodevelopmental approach. London: Mac Keith Press 2012; pp. 72-90.
[20]
Kisilevsky B, Hains S, Lee K, et al. Effects of experience on fetal voice recognition. Psychol Sci 2003; 14(3): 220-4.
[21]
Kisilevsky B, Hains S, Brown C, et al. Fetal sensitivity to properties of maternal speech and language. Infant Behav Dev 2009; 32(1): 59-71.
[22]
Lee GY, Kisilevsky BS. Fetuses respond to father’s voice but prefer mother’s voice after birth. Dev Psychobiol 2014; 56(1): 1-11.
[23]
Kisilevsky B, Hains S. Onset and maturation of fetal heart rate response to the mother’s voice over late gestation. Dev Sci 2011; 14(2): 214-23.
[24]
DeCasper AJ, Granier-Deferre C, Fifer WP, Moon CM. Measuring fetal cognitive development: when methods and conclusions don’t match. Dev Sci 2011; 14(2): 224-5.
[25]
Voegtline KM, Costigan KA, Pater HA, DiPietro JA. Near-term fetal response to maternal spoken voice. Infant Behav Dev 2013; 36(4): 526-33.
[26]
Smith LS, Dmochowski PA, Muir DW, Kisilevsky BS. Estimated cardiac vagal tone predicts fetal response to mother’s and stranger’s voices. Dev Psychobiol 2007; 49: 543-7.
[27]
Kisilevsky B, Brown C. Comparison of fetal and maternal heart rate measures using electrocardiographic and cardiotocographic methods. Infant Behav Dev 2016; 42: 142-51.
[28]
Hepper PG, Scott D, Shahidullah S. Newborn and fetal response to maternal voice. J Reprod Infant Psychol 1993; 11: 147-53.
[29]
Marx V, Nagy E. Fetal behavioural responses to maternal voice and touch. PLoS One 2015; 10(6): e0129118.
[30]
Walusinski O. Fetal yawning.The Mystery of Yawning in Physiology and Disease. Basel: Karger 2010; pp. 325-32.
[31]
Ferrari GA, Nicolini YD, Tosato E, et al. Ultrasonographic investigation of human fetus responses to maternal communicative and non-communicative stimuli. Front Psychol 2016; 3(16): 1-10.
[32]
Jardri R, Houfline-Debarge V, Delion P, Pruvo J-P, Thomas P, Pins D. Assessing fetal response to maternal speech using a noninvasive functional brain imaging technique. Int J Dev Neurosci 2012; 30: 159-61.
[33]
Rousseau F, Studholme C, Jardri R, Thomason ME. In Vivo Human Fetal Brain Analysis Using MR Imaging In: Reissland N, Kisilewsky BS, Eds Fetal development: Research on brain and behavior, environmental influences, and emerging technologies Springer: London 2016; pp 407-27.
[34]
Lee C, Brown C, Hains S, Kisilevsky B. Fetal development: voice processing in normotensive and hypertensive pregnancies. Biol Res Nurs 2007; 8(4): 272-82.
[35]
Cowperthwaite B, Hains SM, Kisilewsky BS. Fetal behavior in smoking compared to non-smoking pregnant women. Infant Behav Dev 2007; 30: 422-30.
[36]
Kisilevsky B, Gilmour A, Stutzman S, Hains SM, Brown C. Atypical fetal response to the mother’s voice in diabetic compared with overweight pregnancies. J Dev Behav Pediatr 2012; 33(1): 55-61.
[37]
Kisilevsky BS, Chambers B, Parker K, Davies G. Auditory processing in growth-restricted fetuses and newborns and later language development. Clin Psychol Sci 2014; 2(4): 495-513.
[38]
Moon C, Ed. Foetal auditory experience and the attractiveness of the maternal voice in the newborn Communication presented at the “The 2017 Stockholm conference on Ultra-Early Intervention: Parental voice and music in neonatal intensive care” Stockholm: Karolinska University Hospital, 23-III-2017 Available from: http://ultra-early-interventioncreotv/2017/ultra-early-convention [Accessed on: October, 2018] .
[39]
DeCasper AJ, Prescott PA. Human newborns’ perception of male voices: Preference, discrimination and reinforcing value. Dev Psychobiol 1984; 17(5): 481-91.
[40]
Justo J. A defensive stand-by reaction at critical moments of the reproductive life cycle. Int J Dev Ed Psychol 2014; 1(4): 2009-13.
[41]
Harvison KW, Molfese DL, Woodruff-Borden J, Weigel RA. Neonatal auditory evoked responses are related to perinatal maternal anxiety. Brain Cogn 2009; 71(3): 369-74.
[42]
Van Leeuwen P, Geue D, Lange S, Cysarz D, Bettermann H, Grönemeyer DH. Is there evidence of fetal-maternal heart rate synchronization? BMC Physiol 2003; 3: 2.
[43]
Van Leeuwen P, Geue D, Thiel M, et al. Influence of paced maternal breathing on fetal-maternal heart rate coordination. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2009; 106(33): 13661-6.
[44]
Ivanov PC, Ma QD, Bartsch RP. Maternal-fetal heartbeat synchronization. Commentary. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2009; 106(33): 13641-2.
[45]
DiPietro JA, Irizarry RA, Costigan KA, Gurewitsch ED. The psychophysiology of the maternal-fetal relationship. Psychophysiology 2004; 41: 510-20.
[46]
Reissland N, Francis B, Aydin E, Mason J, Exley K. Development of prenatal lateralization: evidence from fetal mouth movements. Influence of paced maternal breathing on fetal-maternal heart rate coordination. Physiol Behav 2014; 131: 160-3.
[47]
López Ramón y Cajal C. Response of the foetal pupil to vibro-acoustic stimulation: a foetal attention test. Early Hum Dev 2011; 87: 199-204.

Rights & Permissions Print Cite
© 2024 Bentham Science Publishers | Privacy Policy