Changes in the Rate of the Human Fetal Heart in Response to Vibratory Stimuli

That the human fetus is capable of perceiving sound vibrations and of responding to them by movements of the extremities has previously been reported. Forbes and Forbes1reported the case of a woman who while attending musical concerts felt a great deal of fetal movement whenever the audience applauded. Peiper2reported an increase of fetal activity immediately following certain sound stimuli. Ray,3in an attempt to condition the human fetus, elicited a movement response to the sound of two boards clapping together. We4reported the movement response of the fetus to sound by months during the last three months of intra-uterine life. We5demonstrated the existence of this response at an earlier age than it had generally been assumed to be present. Minkowski6and others have demonstrated on premature human fetuses from interrupted pregnancies the presence of a tactile sense and a response to