Meet Blaby, the iPod for unborn babies
It has long been thought that unborn babies can be initiated into the world long before they are actually delivered. This is possible due to them picking up on sound waves, and in effect, hearing their parents speak or music being played. So why not let them hear some decent tunes by inventing an iPod specially for babies?
I’m using the word iPod in the Hoover sense you understand. This isn’t an Apple product – God forbid that company would do something intended to help humanity rather than to make money. Rant over. This mp3 player, named the Blaby, is the brainchild of Canadian design student Geof Ramsay, and is intended to take advantage of the so-called ‘Mozart Effect’.
The Blaby is essentially an mp3 player built into a belt made to fit the contours of a pregnant mother’s belly. There are three vibration speakers in the belt which will send the music directly to the fetus inside. Any type of audio track can be uploaded to the device, including music, recordings of the parents’ voices, or even a podcast if that’s what you desire your baby listen to while in the womb.
The device wasn’t invented just to enable unborn babies to have an impromptu rave however. Ramsay created the device in order to take advantage of the ‘Mozart Effect’, a theory suggesting babies will be more intelligent if subjected to classical music before they’re born. What effect hip-hop or metal will have is anyone’s guess.
Ramsay told The Telegraph:
Scientists have talked about music being a catalyst for an unborn child’s mental growth for years. This simple device just gives mothers a chance to try out that theory and also to help form a bond with their baby before they are even born.
Of course, classical music is what the experts have suggested be used, but there is nothing to stop you playing your favorite Beatles track or even Led Zeppelin.
The Blaby is still at an early prototype stage and so isn’t yet available to purchase. Ramsay hopes to attract some interest for the product soon and then go into widespread production. Certainly there is a big enough market out there, with expectant mothers making up a considerable chunk of the population at any one time.
However, I’m not too sure about the validity of this product. While talking to and nurturing an unborn baby would seem to be an obvious way to make an early connection, the ‘Mozart Effect’ is far from scientifically proven. Can a product based on a theory sell in large numbers?
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