In a pilot study, 34 fetuses were stimulated daily with a maternal spoken nursery rhyme from week 34 of gestation onward and re-exposed two and five weeks after birth to this familiar, as well as to an unfamiliar rhyme, both spoken with the maternal and an unfamiliar female voice. During auditory stimulation, newborns were continuously monitored with polysomnography using video-monitored hdEEG. Afterward, changes in sleep–wake-state proportions during familiar and unfamiliar voice stimulation were analyzed. Our preliminary results demonstrate a general calming effect of auditory stimulation exclusively in infants who were prenatally “familiarized” with a spoken nursery rhyme, as evidenced by less waking states, more time spent in quiet (deep) sleep, and lower heartrates. A stimulation naïve group, on the other hand, demonstrated no such effects. Stimulus-specific effects related to the familiarity of the prenatally replayed voice or rhyme were not evident in newborns. Together, these results suggest “fetal learning” at a basic level and point to a familiarization with auditory stimuli prior to birth, which is evident in the first weeks of life in behavioral states and heartrate physiology of the newborn.

中文翻译：

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睡眠，小宝贝：产前语言暴露对新生儿睡眠和心率的镇静作用。

在一项试点研究中，从妊娠第 34 周开始，每天用母亲口述的童谣刺激 34 个胎儿，并在出生后 2 周和 5 周重新接触这种熟悉的和不熟悉的童谣，两者都与母亲和一个陌生的女声。在听觉刺激期间，使用视频监控的高清对新生儿进行多导睡眠监测脑电图。之后，分析了熟悉和不熟悉的声音刺激期间睡眠-觉醒状态比例的变化。我们的初步结果表明，听觉刺激仅在产前“熟悉”口述童谣的婴儿中具有普遍的镇静作用，这可以从较少的清醒状态、更多的安静（深度）睡眠时间和较低的心率证明。另一方面，刺激天真的组没有表现出这样的效果。与产前重播的声音或韵律的熟悉程度相关的刺激特异性效应在新生儿中并不明显。总之，这些结果表明基本水平的“胎儿学习”，并指出在出生前熟悉听觉刺激，这在新生儿的行为状态和心率生理学的生命最初几周是显而易见的。