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Music may help boost language learning skills in babies, says a recent study. Music is said to help children in detecting important rhythms and thereby enhance their language and cognitive skills.

The infant's ability to detect and predict the pattern in speech is improved when they listen to music that has consistent rhythm patterns. As languages has rhythm patterns like that of music, babies listening to music develop the ability to identify differences in speech sounds. Eventually, they also learn how to speak.

"Our study is the first in young babies to suggest that experiencing a rhythmic pattern in music can also improve the ability to detect and make predictions about rhythmic patterns in speech," said Christina Zhao, a researcher who led the study from the University of Washington, according to NBC. "This means that early, engaging musical experiences can have a more global effect on cognitive skills," Zhao said.

According to the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, nine months old babies were made to take part in about 12 music sessions of 15 minutes duration each. The activities of the brain of the infants were then analyzed using a special type of brain scan called magnetoencephalography.

The babies were also subjected to a test designed for them, where a piece of music played missed a beat at times and the group of words sung was off the pattern now and then. Babies that had music sessions earlier were able to detect the mistakes easily almost every time than those that had no previous experience in listening to music.

Patricia Kuhl, the co-author, said that babies experience a world which has variety of sensations, light and sound. They tend to observe these patterns and predict what might happen next. This pattern of perception is the key for improving their cognitive skills which has an important role to play throughout their life. Developing such skills early in childhood undoubtedly influence their learning ability.

"This research reminds us that the effects of engaging in music go beyond music itself," said Kuhl, reported Mirror. "Music experience has the potential to boost broader cognitive skills that enhance children's abilities to detect, expect and react quickly to patterns in the world, which is highly relevant in today's complex world."