Prenatal Music Exposure to Enhance Postnatal Language Development

\[BACKGROUND\] Fetuses can hear in the womb from as early as 20 weeks of gestation. Research has shown that prenatal music and spoken language experiences are related to better neural and behavioral outcomes at birth. These findings, though focused on outcomes shortly after birth, are consistent with a larger body of research showing positive effects of postnatal music training on children's language and cognitive outcomes. \[AIM OF STUDY\] Objective 1: To examine whether prenatal music exposure leads to better neural encoding of speech and better language and cognitive developmental outcomes up to two years of life. Objective 2: To construct predictive models using fetal data (e.g., fetal brain MRI and ultrasound data, if available) to forecast individual differences in developmental outcomes among fetuses exposed to prenatal music. \[HYPOTHESIS\] The investigators hypothesize that prenatal music exposure can strengthen a fetus's neural encoding of speech from birth, leading to better language and cognitive development in early childhood. The investigators further hypothesize that, despite the expected heterogeneity in intervention effects, fetal features can predict how much a fetus would benefit from prenatal music exposure.