Before birth and newborn

Babies are capable of hearing even before they are born. They are able to memorise sounds from the external world by the last trimester of pregnancy and are particularly sensitive to melody contour in both music and language.

The foundations of receptive language skills emerge early. New-borns prefer listening to speech or vocal music rather than music or other rhythmic sounds. Research suggests that infants are born with an innate mechanism for perceiving oral language.

Evidence also suggests they prefer their mother's voice over other voices and perceive the emotional content of messages conveyed via intonation contours in maternal speech. It also suggests that infants can identify their native languages rhythmic organisation either pre-natally or during the first few days of life.