Music and voice interventions in the NICU: a novel adaptive personalized auditory care based on biophysical feedback

Abstract

Neonatal Intensive Care Units are an extremely noisy and stressful environment, known to be detrimental to the neurological outcome of preterm born infants. In a time when the sensory environment is critical for the infants' development, implementing new acoustic solutions relying on evidence-based research is key for offsetting these risks. Music and voice interventions have shown beneficial effects on preterm infants' brain, behavior, and physiological development, increasing our understanding of the effects and mechanisms of acoustic interventions for wellbeing. Newborns can distinguish between vocal and instrumental melodies, and music intervention creates musical memories and influences the resting state of preterm infants.