A new music system has been designed to deliver soothing tunes straight to the tender ears of the most delicate of listeners - unborn babies.  The Ritmo pregnancy sound system wraps around an expectant mother's tummy and plays music into the womb through four speakers.

Its designers say unborn babies show signs of 'reactive listening' from just 17 weeks into the pregnancy. And they claim that playing music to a foetus can provide the 'building blocks' for future musical ability and intellectual development.

The new device, which connects to an mp3 player, is said to allow mums and babies to share 'the sensory and emotional experience of bonding through sound and music.'

Ritmo was invented by dad of two Oren Oz after his wife had struggled to play music to her unborn child during her second pregnancy.