A fertility clinic in Spain invited Irish musician Sharon Corr to play for a room full of developing embryos, so the chances of success can be improved. Can music improve the chances of IVF success?
In a research paper presented at the Annual Meeting of ESHRE, the clinic reported how musical vibrations can be favorable for IVF outcomes.
The doctors claimed that subjecting embryos to different kinds of music during the fertilization process can boost their development and improve the chances of IVF success by 5 percent.
Even the singer is amazed
Sharon Corr, who was astounded at this revelation, was also quite touched by this opportunity and called it an “emotional experience”.
“It’s great to think that we could possibly be a part of the future and we could make a change. It’s just beautiful to make music,” she said.
“I’m so amazed at the whole process and how it works and yet I’m not surprised that music really helps the embryos to form because music is the greatest therapy in the world.”
Sharon was also accompanied by Spanish musician, Alex Ubago, during her live performance at the Institut Marques clinic in Barcelona. It was live streamed to the incubators at their branches in Clane, Ireland, and Villa Salaria, Rome.
She was formerly The Voice of Ireland coach and is married to barrister Robert Gavin Bonnar. They have two children together—son, Cathal, and daughter, Flori.
How long are the embryos exposed to music?
During the IVF process, the embryos are normally left in the controlled environment of an incubator for 3-5 days, but within Institut Marques fertility center, they are also exposed to musical micro vibrations 24 hours a day. They use three musical styles—pop, heavy metal and classical.
The clinic started using this musical aid after internal studies first suggested that good vibrations can help to increase the chances of success of IVF.
How does music help the embryos?
While music helps a lot of people heal, how does it really help the embryos that have no ears or listening capacity formed yet?
According to the institute, the culture in which the egg swims is stirred with the micro vibrations of the music thus causing an even distribution of the nutrients the embryo needs, and helping it grow better. Music also makes the whole environment more conducive for cellular growth. While the nutrients are distributed more evenly, any toxic metabolites or free radicals in the culture media would be moved away from the embryos, giving them better survival chances.
Music is known to improve the energy of any place, which is why it is integral to a lot of spiritual practices. Perhaps, the same logic works here.
“I think music in itself is healing…It’s something we are all touched by,” Billy Joel had said. More research is needed in this direction and we have yet to get the opinion of other IVF clinics and doctors on using music to improve embryo health but if the findings are positive, this could be an easy step for many IVF clinics to follow for better outcomes.