Well, if you thought that a newborn baby cannot hear, thing again!! The sense of hearing in an infant develops much before the birth of the baby. When in the womb, the baby hears his mother's heartbeats, the grumbling of her stomach and the sudden loud noises like a car blaring or a drum banging. Upon hearing these sudden loud sounds, baby also reacts by making a sudden audible jerk in the womb. Sounds in the womb play an important role in language learning of the baby. Thanks to these sounds, the baby after coming out into the world has a sense of hearing that is well-established. He recognizes his mother's voice and can differentiate it from the voices of other women, reacts to musical toys and responds favorably to classical music.

Babies can understand that someone is speaking a foreign language and differentiate between familiar and unfamiliar sounds. This ability helps the baby to learn and understand spoken languages later.

Classic music is a favorite with young babies, because they have smooth rhythmic melodies and pauses between sections. However, one year old kids, prefer traditional tunes and start differentiating sounds that are similar.

Gradually, babies start associating sounds with the experiences and give them a meaning. Thus, lullabies and white noise may soothe a baby; loud sounds may startle him while pleasant music may make him happy. Babies may also associate banging of door with arrival of parents or sounds of crying and wailing with something hurtful.

Babies love to listen to the sounds that are similar to ones they heard in the womb such as heartbeat of the mother and sounds of blood flow.

You might wonder how, but babies recognize their mom's voice right from the time they are born and can differentiate it from the voices of other women and get comforted by it sooner.

Younger babies do not have their sense of hearing so well developed and they can hear high pitched sounds better. Thus, they respond better to cooing and baby talk and especially, when it comes from feminine voices.

If the mother listens to soft music, during the time when the baby is in the womb, the same type of music or humming will have positive effects on the child when he comes out into the world.

Musical toys play an important role in the hearing development of a child. It is mostly seen that music toys gather attention of the child. Once the child notices the play toy, he would move forward to reach for it. Music toys also help in the brain development of the child.