When I was pregnant, I relished the opportunity to listen to my baby’s heartbeat at my doctor’s appointments and was equally thrilled by the ultrasounds. At the same time, I would fret if I hadn’t felt my baby move much in any given hour (to the point where my doctor said, “Katrina, you have to let your baby sleep sometimes!”) Perhaps it’s lucky that PreVue wasn’t available to me or I would have been glued to my ‘belly television’ for months!
Student designer Melody Shiue created PreVue as a concept piece for the 2011 Australian Design Awards. The PreVue is described as a ‘foetal visualisation device’ or, for a warm and fuzzy take on technology, a ‘reassurance window’ for mothers.
Using 4D ultrasound delivered via the latest stretchable display technology (e-textiles), the PreVue lets you see your baby moving, sleeping and kicking. I suspect that excited fathers, family and friends would be thrilled to ‘gather around the belly’ in lieu of whatever is on the telly!
The PreVue was shortlisted for a 2011 Australian Design Award however did not make the finals – we’ll let you know if Shiue finds another way to get her incredible idea into production.
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11 Comments
Oh my! I need one of that!
This is amazing… Prob a good thing that I don’t have access to one cause it would be on 24/7 hehe
http://www.sarahbuckley.com/ultrasound-scans-cause-for-concern/
I’d be worried that device is extremely harmful to babies. A highly likely possibility.
I would think that although the design is meritable, the usage (and not to mention safety!) is questionable. I can understand why it didnt win the competition on those grounds.
I agree with Clare – design-wise, it’s interesting, but in practice? I think it’s a terrible idea. I think 4D ultrasounds are pushing things as it is, both by ruining the surprise of seeing what your baby looks like, and by invading that last little bit of privacy and solitude that human beings have, developing and growing in the womb. One of the awesome things about (a healthy) pregnancy is the excitement and mystery.
If it did go in to production, in addition to the question of whether it would be safe for babies, you would also have to ask whether it really would be calming the nerves of worried expectant mothers, or whether it would actually cause more anxiety and obsessive monitoring.
Overall, it doesn’t sit well with me at all.
I can understand the impulse, god knows it’d be nice for a product to allay pregnancy concerns, but I just think we can’t always buy something that we think will help us feel better and control all the variables in life. Are we going to microchip our kids or keep them under electronic surveillance as they get older, they are just as precious to us then? Blood tests and mri’s or ultrasounds on healthy kids every 3 months like in pregnancy just in case? We need to draw a line in the sand, not based on fear.
This is HORRIFIC. We undermine a mother’s instinct enough as it is without this ridiculous contraption. So glad it didn’t get to the finals – the judges had some sense. May it never get funding! Shiue should first research the detrimental effects of scans on babies. She should then throw the prototype in the bin and start designing better affordable birth environments instead.
Can someone please think of the children? It has not been conclusively proven that ultrasound is completely safe and in preliminary testing in the 70s, it was found that human adults submerged in water felt pain when a scientist passed a ultrasound wave crossed over them. You can read about the study in Sheila Kitzinger.
ultrasound should be used when medically necessary! I don’t think that having the odd ultrasound for pleasure is likely to cause side effects, but semi-permanant ultrasound cannot be a good idea.
As yet there have been no proven ill-effects of ultrasound to babies from studies conducted since the late 1970′s– this being said ultrasound should only be performed by skilled professionals who know exactly what they are doing and do so in as timely manner to reduce the time the baby is subjected to ultrasound. Knowing the prices of 4D ultrasound technology I can see this is merely an attempt to make a lotof money out of anxious parents, and it could never be mass-produced at a reasonable cost to any parent. If you have aconcern, see your doctor, don’t waste your money on something like this if it becomes a reality.
Having lost my precious baby girl at 37 weeks and successfully delivering my second baby recently with weekly ultrasounds and almost daily CTGs towards the end, this design would significantly benefit high risk pregnancies as well as the country mother who does not have access to scans as we in the city enjoy. Mothers instinct is all good theory yet every baby is different and it isn’t until you loose your baby that you learn about what loss truly feels like. There are homebased monitoring devices available in the US through the pregnancy institute – dr Collins has worked with and developed a successful product with an imaging company yet this design is more flexible hope the designer hasconsidered including the ability to download and send statistics of Fortaleza heart beat, oxygen, mothers blood pressure kicks etc to the obstetrician or dr for analysis – this would keep in line with current progress in this field.
hiya, was just wondering how much one of these things are ?