DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

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Newborn Prefers Mother’s Voice to Father’s Voice

By Adam Johnson

D

evelopment psychology involves studies dealing with changes in human development. Studies on foetus heart rate response to either mother’s or father’s voice show varying responses. According to Kisilevsky et al. (2009), newborn shows preference on mother’s voice to father’s voice. Father has to be present during foetal developmental stages for recognition of his voice by the foetus. In significant situations, father has to repeat his voice exposure to the foetus and increase the tone so that the voice can penetrate through the maternal tissues and fluids. The estimate of voice threshold, a father, should have to attenuate the uterine wall is 35-40dB. Voice recognition in children develops at a fast rate after birth. During foetal development, the maternal voice is of preference since the mother has a direct connection with the foetus. Lee & Kisilevsky (2014) argue that, voice recognition is necessary for child development since it creates maternal attachment. During foetal development the magnitude of the father or mother’s voice results to changes in the heart rate of the foetus (Lee & Kisilevsky, 2014).

The study aims to develop the relationship between a father’s voice and mother’s voice in relation on the foetus development. The study involves exposure of the foetus or newborn on audio-recording of the father and the mother. The examination involves continuous measuring of the heart rate and records of variability in relation to audio-records. The participants are expectant mothers at low-risk and the male counterparts in different recruitment process. The participation of the study is voluntarily. The study required signing of the ethical approval form and consent form. The participant should be consistent in visiting the laboratory for exposure to audio-recording and measurement of the foetus or newborn heart rate. The audio recordings of the mother and father are from seven different stories. According to Lee & Kisilevsky (2014), the expectation of the results is similarity in heart rate of all the audio-recordings of the father and similarity of all the audio-recordings of the mother.

The results show varying data and great deviation of the recorded sounds. The highest deviation is between the first voice and the second voice of the mother or father. The results show foetal preference on the mother’s voice to father’s voice. Father of the foetus or newborn do not stay at home due to employment may be the result of the deviation of the sound effects. Fathers that play with the foetus or newborns show higher similarity of response and attachment on a child than the fathers that do not play with the foetus or newborn. The questionnaire session helped in understanding the reasons for variability on the voice recordings. The foetal heart rate response to mother’s versus father’s voice shows differences on repeated voice recordings. The duration of voice recording and exposure on the foetus would determine the preference of the voice on the newborn or foetus. Increased mothers voice exposure on the foetus would lead to foetus preferring mother’s voice to father’s voice after birth (Kisilevsky et al. 2009).

The significance of the study was to identify the preference of the fetus in response to mother’s versus father’s voice (Kisilevsky et al. 2009). The additional parameters from the previous research findings were heart rate responses, body movements and follow-up of the newborn for a period of six months after child birth. The importance of additional parameters was to identify similarities and differences on the voice in relation to fetus movement. Sociological parameters were also essential in making conclusion of the study. The sociological parameters present in the study included parents occupation, father’s role in the house, and relationship of a father and the fetus before and after birth (Lee & Kisilevsky, 2014).

In conclusion, the study shows foetal varying responses to mother’s and father’s voices. The heart rate and movement of the foetus or newborn would increase or decrease upon hearing the mother’s or father’s voice. The heart rate of foetus increases on hearing mother’s and father’s voice. The duration of exposure shows no significant difference on the movement of the foetus or newborn (Lee & Kisilevsky, 2014). The results of the data are similar to previous reports on foetus response to father’s versus mother’s voice. The attachment of the newborn would increase upon hearing more of mother’s voice than father’s voice.

References:

Lee, G. Y., & Kisilevsky, B. S. (2014). Fetuses Respond To Father’s Voice But Prefer Mother’s

Voice After Birth. Developmental Psychobiology, 56(1), 1-11.

Kisilevsky, B. S., Hains, S. M. J., Brown, C. A., Lee, C. T., Cowperthwaite, B., Stutzman, S. S.,

& Wang, Z. (2009). Fetal Sensitivity To Properties Of Maternal Speech And Language. Infant Behavior and Development, 32(1), 59-71.