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Photo: Baby Pod Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close Image 2 of 7 Musical tampon: Baby Pod is a silicon speaker a pregnant woman can insert into her vagina to play music for her unborn child. Musical tampon: Baby Pod is a silicon speaker a pregnant woman can insert into her vagina to play music for her unborn child. Photo: Baby Pod Image 3 of 7 Musical tampon: Baby Pod is a silicon speaker a pregnant woman can insert into her vagina to play music for her unborn child. Musical tampon: Baby Pod is a silicon speaker a pregnant woman can insert into her vagina to play music for her unborn child. Photo: Baby Pod Image 4 of 7 Baby Pod cites research claiming a fetus can only fully hear music played inside the vagina. Baby Pod cites research claiming a fetus can only fully hear music played inside the vagina. Photo: Baby Pod Image 5 of 7 Image 6 of 7 Baby Pod cites research claiming a fetus can only fully hear music played inside the vagina. Baby Pod cites research claiming a fetus can only fully hear music played inside the vagina. Photo: Baby Pod Image 7 of 7 Can wearing a ‘musical tampon’ while pregnant stimulate your unborn child’s brain? 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

When I was pregnant with my first child 12 years ago, I regularly placed headphones on my stomach while I sat for hours at my work computer. My unborn child was regularly treated to a sophisticated medley of the great classical works by Bach, Beethoven and Mozart (and well, let’s be honest here, a whole lot of garage rock from The White Stripes).

I was an ambitious, soon-to-be first-time mom wanting to give my future daughter the best start in life (and good taste in music). And like many newbies to motherhood, I was motived by articles citing research that music, especially the more complicated classical compositions, stimulates a developing brain and promotes learning. But my efforts were ineffective (no wonder my daughter quit piano!) according to a new company based in Spain claiming fetuses don’t benefit from melodies played outside the belly.

To give babies a premium musical listening experience, Baby Pod produced an oval-shaped, silicon speaker that pregnant women can insert into their vaginas as they would a tampon. The device is controlled by a mobile phone app allowing soon-to-be-moms to stimulate their fetuses’ brains with their favorite songs. A pair of split head phones hang from the vagina allowing future parents to listen along.

A number of speaker products that pregnant women can strap around their bellies have been on the market for years, but Baby Pod claims fetuses don’t fully hear music conveyed outside the womb because the sounds are muffled by the abdominal wall. The company designed its product based on research from Institut Marques, a Barcelona-based fertility clinic, claiming babies pick up on the complexities of music played inside the vagina.

“The vagina is a closed space, so sound is not dispersed in the environment,” an explanation on the website reads. “In addition, there are less soft tissue layers separating the baby from the sound target, only the vaginal and uterine walls. By placing a speaker inside the vagina, we overcome the barrier formed by the abdominal wall and the baby can hear sounds with almost as much intensity and clarity as when emitted.”

This sounds like a recipe for hearing loss but Baby Pod claims the sound intensity is only 54 decibels, “similar to a conversation in a hushed tone.

Not convinced? The company says their musical pod isn’t any louder than vibrating sex toys, which doctors say women can safely insert into their vagina during pregnancy. Come to think of it, Baby Pod could be used as a fun sex toy after the baby is born.

Baby Pod costs $133.26.