Stefan Koelsch and his colleagues presented people with sequence of chords and used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology to monitor their brains. 37 Notably, active neuron activity was detected in the core brain area traditionally associated with language processing. This finding entails that the brain areas governing music and language overlap. This neurological overlap can be attributed to an etymological common ground between the two—they are governed by systematic rules, in which constituent elements (e.g., music note vs. word) are hierarchically organized into sequences (e.g., melody vs. sentence). 

　　Researchers from Northwestern University found that an awareness of music can make people more attuned to the melody of speech. In a 2007 investigation, these researchers exposed English speakers to Mandarin speech sounds and employed electrodes placed on the scalp to measure the electrical responses in their auditory brain stem. 38 The researchers observed that those who had received some musical training consistently exhibited a much stronger electrical response to the speech in the auditory brain stem than those who had no music training. 

　　Focusing on prenatal babies, some German neuroscientists found out that both language and musical prosodies can penetrate the womb. 39 Babies smile when hearing high-pitch discourse that indicates approval and praise, and become depressed when hearing low-pitched prohibitions. 40 Not only can exposure to music enhance our language skills, but the speech we hear also influences our perception of music.