How did vocal communication come to dominate human language? A view from the womb
Fig 2
Schematic illustration of sensory input to the fetus.
The diagram highlights the relative penetrance of vibrotactile and acoustic stimuli, which can be transmitted directly as pressure waves, compared to light, whose photons are absorbed by the abdomen, reflected, and scattered, preventing the transmission of images. All icons are original works or reused under a CC-BY4.0 license. “Vibrotactile stimuli” icon obtained from https://icon-icons.com/icon/touching-ngers/64385; “heartbeat” icon by M2n obtained from https://thenounproject.com/icon/heartbeat-5770628/.