Badum
Why not just use my phone's voice recorder app?
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You can point any recorder app at your bump, but a standard voice recorder records at a fixed level, does nothing about room noise, and files the result among your other voice memos. Badum is built around this one moment: it amplifies the faint sounds from your belly while you listen, lets you reduce noise with a slider, and keeps every recording in a heartbeat journal by pregnancy week, ready to share.
What a voice recorder app does
A voice recorder app is made for speech. It records whatever the microphone hears at one fixed level, so the faint sounds from a bump come out very quiet, mixed with the room. There is no way to boost the sound while you listen, no way to push the room noise back, and the file lands in a list of memos named by date and time. You can raise the volume afterwards in an editing app, but that raises the noise just as much.
What Badum adds
- Amplify slider. Boost the soft sounds from your belly while you listen live, with headphones for detail.
- Noise-reduction slider. Dial down the room until the fast rhythm stands out.
- Heartbeat journal. Every recording is saved, dated and shown by pregnancy week, so you can hear how the sounds change from week to week.
- Names and sharing. Name each clip and share it, or share a due-date card, straight from the app.
- Kick counter. Sessions of kicks and rolls, saved next to your recordings.
- Week and countdown. Your current week and days to go on the home screen.
What both have in common
Both use the same built-in microphone. Badum adds no hardware, and it is a keepsake and bonding app, not a medical device. What you hear depends on the week, the baby's position, the placenta's position and background noise, and it can include blood flow and body sounds as well as the heartbeat. A voice recorder can catch something too when the baby sits close to the belly wall; Badum makes it easier to hear, and easier to keep.
When a voice recorder is enough
If you want one raw recording, once, and you are happy to hunt for it later, a recorder app will do. If you want to hear the rhythm clearly while it is happening, tune out the room, and keep a week-by-week journal to replay and share with family, that is what Badum is for.
Related questions
Can I amplify a voice memo afterwards instead?
You can raise the volume in an editing app, but that raises the room noise by the same amount. Badum's amplify and noise-reduction sliders work while you listen, so you can adjust until the rhythm stands out.
Does Badum use a special microphone?
No. Badum uses the same built-in microphone as your recorder app. The difference is what happens to the sound afterwards: amplification, noise reduction, and a journal that keeps it by week.
Get Badum on iPhone and Android
Badum is not a medical device and does not provide a medical diagnosis or replace prenatal care. Always talk to your doctor or midwife about your pregnancy and your baby's health.