Member Article

Institut Marquès win Ig Nobel Prize for Medicine for its studies on music and the beginning of life

Institut Marquès presented at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) its scientific studies on the influence of music on embryonic and foetal development.

Their work, published in the prestigious scientific magazine Ultrasound, has discovered how foetal hearing works, showing that foetuses hear from week 16 (when they measure 11 cm / 4 inches), as long as the sound comes to them from the mother’s vagina.

Dr. Marisa López-Teijón, director of Institut Marquès, Dr. Àlex García-Faura, scientific director of the center, and Lluís Pallarés, creator of the Babypod vaginal device, explained the conclusions of the study at MIT. Dr. Alberto Prats, Professor of Anatomy and Human Embryology of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona, is also part of the research team.

This session at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is part of the Ig Nobel Awards Ceremony, which recognise the most surprising and innovative scientific research of the year, winning the Ig Nobel Prize for Medicine.

Dr. Marisa López-Teijón has been awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for Medicine, the first one in Obstetrics in the 27-year history of the award.

The Ig Nobel ceremony is held at the Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, hosting prestigious scientists from around the world to present their studies to the public in a fun and enjoyable way.

At the ceremony, Dr. Marisa López-Teijón explained: “Institut Marquès is carrying out state-of-the-art research on how music impacts the embryonic and foetal development.

We have improved in vitro fertilization by applying musical vibrations inside the incubators in all our fertility clinics.

By inserting a speaker in the vagina of thousands of patients for the first time we have been able to communicate with the foetus. To achieve this we have created the Babypod. This is an FDA approved vaginal speaker that connects to the mobile phone.

Thanks to the Babypod, we have discovered how foetal hearing works: foetuses can barely hear noise outside the womb. The foetal ability to hear starts when the foetus only measures 4 inches or 11cm. Until now medical literature could only confirm that fetuses heard from week 26 onwards. Foetuses responds just like babies, with speech and movements because they are learning to communicate. The myth of talking to your belly is over“

According to Institut Marquès’ studies, we can now communicate with the foetus and neurologically stimulate it. Any kind of sensory stimulation is good,-and the earlier the better. Music stimulates language learning. And as we see, learning can begin in the womb.

The Ig Nobel Prize represents a recognition for the research of Institut Marquès to improve assisted reproduction treatments.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Scott Barrett .