Parents have been singing lullabies to their children for thousands of years, but emerging research suggests that music does far more than simply calm a restless infant. Dutch scientists have discovered a fascinating connection between how babies process musical rhythm and how they handle language. A study published in the journal Developmental Science found that infants who are better at picking up on rhythmic patterns in music are also more adept at recognizing patterns in speech. That turns out to be a foundational skill for learning words and eventually mastering a language.
Experts say this link makes a great deal of intuitive sense. Jordyn Koveleski Gorman, a pediatric speech-language pathologist and child development specialist, explained that “both music and language are built on patterns — beats in music group together the same way syllables group together into words in speech.” She added that if a baby’s brain is skilled at finding and tracking sound patterns, “that skill can support early language acquisition too.” The parallel between these two domains runs deeper than most parents might realize.
Dr. Rachel Albert, a professor of psychology at Lebanon Valley College, agreed and pointed out that the findings highlight something remarkable about infant cognition. “Babies are born pattern detectors,” she said, “and this study underscores the parallels between music and language, both of which are made up of highly structured sounds.” In other words, the cognitive tools babies use for one are naturally shared with the other.
The study itself involved 44 infants between six and nine months of age. Researchers used EEG caps, a safe and non-invasive device that measures brain activity, to monitor how the babies’ brains responded to different types of sound. Lead author Iris van der Wulp acknowledged that “EEG research with infants is always challenging” because the babies need to wear a cap with electrodes and cables during the recording. To keep them calm, the infants sat in a parent’s lap and were given toys to keep their hands occupied.
The babies listened to two types of audio: a sequence of made-up speech in which certain syllable patterns repeated, and rhythmic musical patterns. Researchers then checked how well the infants’ brain activity synchronized with those patterns. Van der Wulp reported that “infants who precisely aligned their brain waves with the musical rhythm also precisely aligned their brain waves with the words in an artificial language,” adding that this demonstrates genuine overlap in how babies process music and speech.
One of the more surprising findings was that musical rhythm ability does not appear to be genetically inherited from parents. “We previously assumed that musical rhythmic abilities were genetically hereditary,” van der Wulp noted, “however, we found no evidence to support this.” What actually made the difference was how frequently parents and babies engaged in musical activities together. Infants whose parents reported regular shared music time showed a stronger sense of rhythm, which in turn was linked to better language skills.
Van der Wulp recommended that parents spend time creating and listening to music together with their child, saying the findings suggest it “can be beneficial for the child’s musical and language development.” Gorman was quick to reassure families that no special talent is required. “You don’t have to be musically gifted. You don’t have to sing in perfect pitch. You just need to be willing to sing, clap, sway, and be silly with your baby,” she said. The message is one of accessibility rather than pressure.
Experts also stressed that simply putting music on in the background does not carry the same benefit as active engagement. It is the shared, interactive quality of the experience that drives early learning. Gorman explained that when parents sing to their babies, they naturally slow down their speech, emphasize sounds, use repetition, and link sound to movement and facial expressions, all of which help an infant’s brain begin to organize and understand language. Dr. Albert added that timing and attention matter too, noting that babies learn best when sounds are connected to whatever they are currently focused on. She described a scenario where a parent responds to a baby playing with blocks by singing or talking about that specific activity, which is far more stimulating than commenting on something unrelated.
Gorman was also careful to put the findings in perspective. She said the real takeaway for parents should not be the impulse to enroll a six-month-old in music lessons, but rather the recognition that “the everyday things you’re already doing truly matter.” Singing during diaper changes, clapping during playtime, rocking to a song, and making up silly tunes at bath time are all developmentally meaningful. She also cautioned against placing too much weight on a single study, noting that a baby who shows less interest in music will not necessarily struggle with language. “Development isn’t that black and white,” she said. “Rhythm may be one helpful piece of the puzzle, but it isn’t the whole picture.”
From a broader scientific perspective, EEG (electroencephalography) has become a valuable tool in infant research precisely because it is passive and non-invasive. Babies do not need to perform a task or respond verbally, making it one of the few methods that can reliably capture neural activity in very young children. The field of developmental psycholinguistics, which studies how children acquire language, has long recognized that the earliest months of life are a sensitive period for laying the cognitive groundwork that supports speech comprehension and production. Research consistently shows that babies are already distinguishing phonemes and statistical patterns in sound well before they utter their first words. The journal Developmental Science, where this study appeared, is a peer-reviewed publication that covers a wide range of topics in cognitive and developmental research, and findings published there are generally subject to rigorous academic scrutiny.
If you found this research as fascinating as we did, share your thoughts and experiences with music and your little one in the comments.
