First Sounds
- At about 18-20 weeks the physical ears start to protrude from the head.
- At 20 weeks the neurosensory section of the auditory system starts to develop.
- At around 25 weeks the auditory system is functional, and they can hear low frequencies from the outside world.
- Late in the pregnancy a foetus can differentiate between voices.
Once the auditory system is functional the hair cells in the cochlea, the axons of the auditory nerve and neurons of the temporal lobe auditory cortex are tuned to receive stimuli. It is within the time of 25 weeks and 5-6 months of age that these systems calibrate to receive certain frequencies and intensities. This auditory system requires external environmental sound to refine and develop, the main two sounds that do this are speech and music. The auditory environment a foetus is in within this time can determine their ability to hear, if the foetus is continuously exposed to loud environments it can interfere with the development of their auditory system.
Our auditory perception of the world can be shaped and influenced by our first exposure to it. There is a time in which we cannot see but can hear voices, to me this is important when considering the acousmetre. The acousmetre is described as being everywhere, neither on screen nor outside it. I think that a foetus’s experience in the womb mirrors this, and perhaps the cinematic experience of the acousmetre is that which subconsciously reminds us of a venerable time in our sensory development.
Bibliography:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1527336908001347
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324464#fetal-hearing-at-each-stage-of-development