Research into prenatal learning and other facets of prenatal awareness often simply confirm what many parents believed already, that it is possible to interact with a child before birth. There is also much clinical evidence for prenatal awareness and learning. Most of the research done into prenatal learning has dealt with auditory learning. Conclusive evidence that newborns recognize their mother's voices has been presented by Anthony DeCasper, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina. Dr. DeCasper had expectant mother read 'The Cat in the Hat' to their fetuses at regular intervals before birth.
Fetuses also learn the beginnings of languages from their mothers while in the womb.
Research using acoustic spectroscopy has shown that, at 27 weeks, a baby's cry already contains some features of his or her mother's speech, such as rhythms and voice characteristics. A French experiment conducted on fetuses 33 to 37 weeks gestation demonstrated memory of a children's rhyme, while still in the womb. A study by Donald Shelter, professor of education at the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music, shows that fetuses are also capable of remembering a wordless tune. This study also gives evidence to the positive effects of prenatal exposure to complex rhythms. In this study a stereo earphone system was placed directly on the mother's abdomen, allowing the fetuses to list to orchestral music with a single dominant melody.