Using headphones on baby bump can damage hearing parents warned

Parents-to-be are unaware that placing headphones on their baby bump to play their unborn child music could be risking their hearing.

Baby development expert Lin Day, founder of Baby Sensory, is concerned though not surprised by findings showing that 89 per cent of parents-to-be did not realise they could damage their child’s hearing in this way.

Dr Lin Day says: “It is widely researched and publicised that playing music to an unborn child helps mother and child bond and assists with brain development, which I fully support. However, the problem with playing the headphones directly on the abdomen is that the amniotic fluid works as a conductor of sound and can amplify the music which causes it to be far louder for the baby. Many people will turn up the volume believing that it needs to be loud to penetrate the abdomen which can be dangerous. This can, in some circumstances, lead to hearing problems to the child from birth.”

The survey by Baby Sensory questioned more than 250 people for the research.