When do we start hearing sounds?

If you have healthy hearing, you can hear various sounds as well as unpleasant noise, and you hear them practically throughout your life. Really. Hearing develops earlier than you think and we hear before we are even born. Do you know when children start to hear?

Development of hearing before birth

The early formation of what will happen to your baby's eyes and ears begins in the second month of pregnancy. That's when the cells in the developing embryo begin to arrange themselves into what will become the face, brain, nose, eyes, and ears.

At about 9 weeks, small indentations will appear on the baby's neck as the ears continue to form both inside and out. Eventually, these indentations begin to move upward until they develop into your baby's ears.

When does a baby start to hear sounds?

Around 18 weeks of pregnancy, your little one hears the first sounds. By 24 weeks, small ears develop rapidly. As the weeks go by, your baby's sensitivity to sound will improve even more.

What are the first sounds a baby hears?

The limited sounds your baby hears around this point in your pregnancy are sounds you may not even notice. They are the sounds of your body. These include your beating heart, air moving in and out of your lungs, your abdomen, and even the sound of blood moving through the umbilical cord. These sounds resemble white noise , which is a favorite sound of babies. It has a calming effect and they sleep well with it.

As the child grows, more sounds will be heard

Around 25 or 26 weeks, babies in the womb have been shown to respond to voices and noise. Recordings made in the womb show that outside sounds are muted by about half. This is because there is no open air in the womb. Your baby is surrounded by amniotic fluid and wrapped in layers of body. This means that all sounds from outside are muffled. Think of it like being submerged in water.

The most important sound your baby hears in the womb is the mother's voice. In the third trimester, the child can already recognize it.

Even if your baby's ears are well developed after birth, it may take up to six months before he can fully hear and understand different sounds. Children's ears are very sensitive to sounds and noise. Therefore, if you are about to have a baby, you should consider soundproofing the apartment.