Sharon Begley

The Crying Song

"Crying baby" and "music" don't usually go together, but, hey, interesting science starts with questions no one else thought to ask—in this case, what are the musical contours of a newborn's cry? There had already been provocative research on what sounds a fetus can hear in the womb and what effect that has right after birth, with several research teams finding that newborns prefer their mothers' voices over those of other people, as in studies such as this and this. That makes sense, since Mom's voice is what a baby heard most for nine months. Newborns also prefer their native tongue to other languages for the same reason. (Click here to follow Sharon Begley)