Gélat, Pierre;
Van't Wout, Elwin;
Haqshenas, Reza;
Melbourne, Andrew;
David, Anna L;
Mufti, Nada;
Henriques, Julian;
... Jauniaux, Eric; + view all
(2025)
Evaluation of fetal exposure to environmental noise using a computer-generated model.
Nature Communications
, 16
, Article 3916. 10.1038/s41467-025-58983-0.
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Abstract
Acoustic noise can have profound effects on wellbeing, impacting the health of pregnant women and their fetus. Mounting evidence suggests neural memory traces are formed by auditory learning in utero. A better understanding of the fetal auditory environment is therefore critical to avoid exposure to damaging noise levels. Using anatomical data from MRI scans of pregnant patients (N = 4) from 24 weeks of gestation, we develop a computational model to quantify fetal exposure to acoustic field. We obtain acoustic transfer characteristics across the human audio range and pressure maps in transverse planes passing through the uterus at 5 kHz, 10 kHz and 20 kHz, showcasing multiple scattering and modal patterns. Our calculations show that the sound transmitted in utero is attenuated by as little as 6 dB below 1 kHz, confirming results from animal studies that the maternal abdomen and pelvis do not shelter the fetus from external noise.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Evaluation of fetal exposure to environmental noise using a computer-generated model |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41467-025-58983-0 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58983-0 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Surgery and Interventional Sci UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL EGA Institute for Womens Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Surgery and Interventional Sci > Department of Surgical Biotechnology UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL EGA Institute for Womens Health > Maternal and Fetal Medicine |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10211537 |
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