Language is a form of communication that is developed very early on in life. Most people think that language begins after a child is born and continues to develop throughout its first years of life. When in reality, the process of learning language begins in utero, before a child is born. The mother’s voice is present in utero which in turn, helps with the child’s postnatal perception of language. There are several factors that can alter the perception of speech in utero and can also affect the child’s production of language once the child is born. These include, prenatal alcohol use as well as the use of other drugs while pregnant. Mothers play a large part in the language development that occurs, because they are so close to the baby at all times. Babies show a preference for their mother’s voice once they are born. All of these factors that alter prenatal perception of language, together can affect the language of a child after it is born.

Babies begin to absorb sound during their time in utero. It is suggested that once the baby is born, it prefers the sound of its mother’s voice over the voice of another person, such as the father. This is because of the vibrations felt by the fetus while the baby’s mother talked during pregnancy. Fetal heartrate is known to decrease while hearing its mother’s voice or hearing something familiar that their mother has previously spoken (DeCasper et al., 1994). This is important for mothers to know, because as pregnancy progresses they can begin to speak to their fetuses more. This ensures the child is familiar with her voice once it is born. A child’s auditory mechanisms are typically developed around 30 weeks gestation, which means the last 10 weeks of pregnancy of critical for auditory learning (McElroy, 2013). A study conducted by, Partanen (2013) tested the neural activity in fetuses when they are exposed to selected speech stimuli and results show that, “The neural activation was significantly greater in infants with more prenatal exposure to the speech material” (Partanen et al., 2013). This proves that brain activity takes place in fetuses when they hear speech in utero.

Another study was conducted that suggests babies begin to learn language before they are born. Draganova (2005) tested mismatch negativity (MMN) response to auditory stimuli in fetuses. Sound discrimination is a cognitive function that allows humans to learn and understand language. Newborns are able to discriminate such sounds hours after birth (Draganova, 2005). We previously learned that the auditory processing system develops while in utero. But when does the ability to distinguish certain sounds take place in the human fetus? A sound discrimination task was used to test auditory cognitive function in fetuses at 33-36 weeks gestation. A sequence of sounds were played outside of the test room but delivered to the mother abdomen through a plastic tube (Draganova, 2005). Results of this study show that it is possible to detect changes in stimulus frequency, but because the brains of the fetuses were not fully developed, researchers could not detect if the fetuses heard the changes in sounds. Although the results were not drastic, they did show that, “The response to the standard tone was in the noise level in 10 of the 25 fetal measurements. Which showed that fetuses mainly responded to changes in sound features” (Draganova, 2005). This proves that some changes in sound were detected by the fetuses and that fetal auditory stimulation did take place. Sound stimulation in utero helps the child with language once they are born so long as no other harmful factors stand in the way.

One of these harmful factors that can disrupt fetal language perception is the ingestion of alcohol. It is no surprise that drinking alcohol during pregnancy can be detrimental to a child’s health. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is an umbrella term for children who have disorders as a result of their mothers consuming alcohol while pregnant (O’Leary et al., 2009). In order to diagnose a disorder some criteria are necessary such as, “growth retardation, central nervous system involvement, facial features of short palpebral fissures, thin upper lip, and elongated, flattened mid-face” (Wesson, 2005). If a child has any of these conditions, it can be assumed that some form of prenatal alcohol use was involved. Feta alcohol exposure can severely disrupt a child’s brain functions and can result in some anatomical abnormalities as well (Wesson, 2005). Due to the fact that alcohol can cause birth defects and brain abnormalities, children born with FAS show a delay in language acquisition. As mentioned before, facial abnormalities can occur, which can also cause a lack of development to the central auditory pathways (Wesson, 2005). It is clear why language acquisition would be a problem if auditory pathways do not fully develop. If a child cannot hear properly, then it will not fully learn language. Another study conducted on fetal alcohol exposure and language found that mothers who showed a binge pattern of alcohol consumption during their second or third trimester, resulted in a likelihood of a language delay in 2-year-old children (O’Leary et al., 2009). There are clear implications for children when their mothers engage in alcohol consumption while pregnant. Not only are there physical disorders but biological disorders as well. Language can be impaired greatly when mothers consume alcohol while pregnant and can result in language delays for the rest of a child’s life. Both of these studies show why it is so important for women to refrain from alcohol use while pregnant. Other drugs taken while pregnant, can cause language defects as well.

Women who are pregnant can suffer from mood disorders and are prescribed anti-depressants to help manage the disorder they have. Serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) anti-depressants are some of the most commonly used drugs taken during pregnancy (Weikum et al., 2012). These drugs can cross the placenta and the blood-brain barrier, which raises concern because they could be affecting the fetus (Weikum et al., 2012). Researchers conducted a study to see if these drugs had an effect on speech perception milestones in infants. Auditory and visual tests were given to 6-month-old children whose mothers were either depressed and taking medication, depressed and not taking medication, or not depressed and not taking medication (Weikum et al., 2012). Participants were also tested on vowel and consonant sounds at 36 weeks gestation when their speech sound categories were beginning to develop. Results of these studies show that, “exposure to SRIs accelerates speech perception development, whereas exposure to maternal depression initially disrupts performance and ultimately delays perceptual narrowing by prolonging the period of sensitivity to nonnative distinctions” (Weikum et al., 2012). These results are somewhat surprising, because they show that language perception is not necessarily affected by anti-depressant drugs but more so affected by the mood of the mother while in her depressed state. This could be due to the fact that mothers who are depressed are often monotone and not changing their speech style or highlighting different speech sounds (Weikum et al., 2012). When you hear a mother speak to a baby she often speaks in a higher-pitched voice than usual, which some people call “motherese”. This speech is much more engaging for children and helps them with their preference for their mother’s voice once they are born. More research is needed on anti-depressant drug use while pregnant in order to tell how it truly effects language. We can suggest that, mothers with depression can in fact alter their child’s language perception.

Mother’s play a large role in how their child perceives language in utero and once the child is born. Recurrent speech is defined as speech that is repeated or occurring often. If something is repeated enough, it is likely that it will become learned by an individual. When mothers speak out loud for their fetuses to hear, it is probable that their fetuses will become accustomed to their mother’s voice. Studies have been done that test whether or not prenatal exposure to maternal speech will influence early development of postnatal speech perception. Speech heard in utero is not the same heard outside of the mother’s uterus, but follows similar acoustical properties. Certain parts of speech such as, intonation contours, meter, and 30% of individual phonemes can be heard by adults which goes to show that the fetus is able to hear most of what its mother is saying (sound wise) but in more muffled tones (DeCasper et al., 1994). A study tested whether fetal heart rate would increase or decrease as a result of hearing something the fetus has already heard before or hearing something the fetus has never heard before. Mother’s recited a single poem (target poem) to their fetus for 4 weeks prior to testing. During the test period, a recording of the target poem read in a female graduate student’s voice was played at the mother’s abdomen. A recording of the unfamiliar poem was also played, still in the voice of the same female graduate student. Results showed that fetal heart rate decreased when they heard the target poem their mother read aloud to them for 4 weeks. This goes to show that the fetuses heard the familiar poem and were soothed as a result (DeCasper et al., 1994). In conclusion, mothers play a large role in their child’s language development and can use their voice to their advantage once the child is born.

Language acquisition is complex and begins to develop in utero typically in the third trimester of pregnancy. Many factors influence this language development and begin with the development of the auditory system. Studies have found that fetuses can in fact hear the auditory changes in utero and distinguish sound differences as well. More research is needed to tell how much it can affect a child’s language once they are born. Drugs can also affect the development of the auditory system in utero which can a child’s language for the rest of its life. Disorders stem from mother’s drinking alcohol while pregnant and will lead to lifelong problems for a child. Altogether, research suggests that language begins to develop in utero, and influences how language will continue to progress once a child is born.

References

Cone-Wesson, B. (2005). Prenatal alcohol and cocaine exposure: Influences on cognition, speech, language, and hearing doi:https://doi-org.libproxy.unh.edu/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2005.02.004

DeCasper, A. J., Lecanuet, J., Busnel, M., Granier-Deferre, C., & Maugeais, R. (1994). Fetal reactions to recurrent maternal speech doi:https://doi-org.libproxy.unh.edu/10.1016/0163-6383(94)90051-5

Draganova, R., Eswaran, H., Murphy, P., Huotilainen, M., Lowery, C., & Preissl, H. (2005). Sound frequency change detection in fetuses and newborns, a magnetoencephalographic study doi:https://doi-org.libproxy.unh.edu/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.06.011

O’Leary, C., Zubrick, S., L. Taylor, C., Dixon, G., & Bower, C. (2009). Prenatal Alcohol   Exposure and Language Delay in 2-Year-Old Children: The Importance of Dose and Timing on          Risk. Pediatrics 123(2).

Partanen, E., Kujala, T., Näätänen, R., Liitola, A., Sambeth, A., & Huotilainen, M. (2013).              Learning-induced neural plasticity of speech processing before birth. Proceedings of the    National Academy of Sciences, 110(37), 15145-15150. doi:10.1073/pnas.1302159110