Playing music for plants can help them to grow, and it turns out that the same might be true for humans.

In a new study published in the peer-reviewed science journal Chaos, researchers played classical music for third-trimester fetuses using headphones on the mothers’ stomachs and measured the fetuses’ heart rates.

They found that the vibrations from the music helped to stabilize the fetuses’ heart rates, which researchers said “could stimulate the development of the fetal autonomic nervous system.”

The study, “Response to music on the nonlinear dynamics of human fetal heart rate fluctuations,” is another in a long line of studies suggesting that listening to classical music can, among other things, help people develop spatial-temporal skills or aid in scheduling and ordering tasks like packing a car trunk full of suitcases on the first try. A true superpower.

The scientific literature on music is historically murky, however, with lots of correlative and anecdotal data and studies with small sample sizes. The new Chaos study only analyzed data from 37 pregnant women and also noted that the babies’ hearts stabilized more to the sound of Spanish guitar than to orchestral music.

But as science has developed new ways to image the brain and body, researchers are gaining clarity on the specific ways music affects us.

Lately, much of that research has concentrated on childhood development and the therapeutic aspects of listening to and learning to play music, and 2025 has seen a spate of data emerging about music and pregnancy.

Sonata snacks

The study about fetal heart rates follows in the footsteps of a 2023 study published in Scientific Reports that found that listening to Beethoven’s music live synchronized listeners heart rates and breathing. This was particularly true when listeners were emotionally moved by the music:

“There were links between the bodily synchrony and aesthetic experiences: synchrony, especially heart-rate synchrony, was higher when listeners felt moved emotionally and inspired by a piece, and were immersed in the music,” researchers wrote in “Audience synchronies in live concerts illustrate the embodiment of music experience.”

For the fetal study, researchers only used two pieces of music. First was “The Swan” by French composer Camille Saint-Saens, himself a musical prodigy, with its serene, flowing cello solo. And then came “Arpa de Oro,” by Mexican composer Abundio Martínez, a pensive guitar melody with a groovier bass.

The latter produced more regular and predictable heart rate patterns, according to the study.

Pregnant mothers, too, have reported benefits to listening to calming music. An Indonesian journal in January published a paper found that “Classical music therapy has been shown to be effective in reducing anxiety in pregnant women.”

But again, the sample size was only 30 women.

The paper, “Classical Music Interventions to Reduce Anxiety in Pregnancy,” also had a few translation issues, but its conclusion doesn’t seem farfetched based on other published research. For example, a larger literature review published in August in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology MFM found that “a general positive effect of music interventions on maternal stress resilience,” but noted that the genre of the music wasn’t as relevant as whether the women enjoyed the music or not.

The actual takeaway: Listening to music you like might be good for your health.

The Mozart effect

Back in 1998, Georgia Governor Zell Miller, was so taken with the idea that he tried to use state funding to send every baby born in Georgia a cassette tape or CD of classical music.

The idea is as seductive as it is silly. It appeals to parents’ natural desire to give their kids a developmental leg up, and it appeals to classical record labels and producers who sought to cash in on the so-called Mozart effect.

Then again, another study, “A systematic review of the Mozart effect in adult and paediatric cases of drug-resistant epilepsy,” this one published in Epilepsy & Behavior found that children and adults alike experienced reduced seizures when exposed to a Mozart duet for two pianos, which the researchers are also terming a Mozart effect.

The literature does indicate that passively listening to music can help kids manage anxiety and that actively studying an instrument can have all sorts of far-reaching benefits like improving executive function, or the ability to prioritize and accomplish daily tasks and make decisions.

And this, in turn, can have all sorts of far reaching effects in terms of development and career and even the ability to bond, socially. The Mozart effect may not be as simple as we once thought, but it certainly bears further probing.

Jeremy Reynolds: jreynolds@post-gazette.com. His work at the Post-Gazette is supported in part by a grant from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Getty Foundation and Rubin Institute.

First Published: March 13, 2025, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: March 13, 2025, 9:59 a.m.