Tune This Out — A 'Vaginal Speaker' for Your Unborn

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How did we women take care of our bodies and unborn babies before smartphones and health apps came along? No one can ever be sure. But, thankfully, we won't ever need to go back to those basics.

Because there is now virtually an app for everything regarding women's health — from the digital tampon that lets you know when to swap it, to the ovulation and fertility apps that suck the spontaneity out of intercourse. Naturally, once you do conceive, the digital fun doesn't stop there. Meet BabyPod: a small, vaginal device that lets your unborn baby rock out to Nirvana in the womb. Or something like that.

The device was created by what seems to be an international reference center in Gynecology, Obstetrics and Assisted Reproduction in Spain, after internal research showed the neurologically- and developmentally-increased benefits of introducing music to the unborn child vaginally, rather than via the abdomen.

The device connects to the headphones jack of the smartphone, with another audio input, in case the mother wants to listen to the same music. The sound intensity generated from this tampon-like insert is 54 decibels, equivalent to the sound of a washing machine. Here is a product demonstration below. (You're welcome.)

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Source: BabyPod

According to a statement on the company's website, the BabyPod is the "difference between music via the vagina and via the abdomen," and that "the only way the music can really reach the baby is vaginally." Please.

Some research has shown that fetuses as early as 18 weeks can become sensitive to sound generated outside of the womb. At 25 weeks, fetuses can hear and react to external sounds by moving, but no one knows for sure what these movements may mean. Some experts say that babies already born can recognize music their parents played while in the womb, and can even fall asleep or light up when hearing a familiar tune.

What we know for sure, however, is that there has not been reliable evidence that music in the womb can make your baby smarter. In the early 90s, a short paper published in Nature introduced the Mozart effect to the masses: the idea that babies who listen to classical music early on become smarter than those who don't. But scientists since have concluded that the notion doesn't compute, and instead urge parents to introduce children to music by learning to play instruments, rather than passively listen to music.

Still, the idea that babies in the womb can react to music has been around for some time, but it certainly shouldn't involve inserting a stereo into your, ahem, lady parts.