The effect of listening to lullaby music on physiologic response and weight gain of premature infants

Abstract

Objectives: The environment plays a key role in survival and brain development for premature infants. Recent interest lends consideration to non pharmacological interventions as a beneficial alternative. This study seeks to investigate the effect of lullaby music on the physiological response and weight gain of premature infants in Mashhad, Iran. Method: In this study, 44 very low birth weight infants 34 weeks of gestational age that were admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Imamreza Hospital in Mashhad, Iran were enrolled. Infants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the Music group and the Control group. Lullaby music was played through earphones for the Music group. This continued for 8 days at 20 minutes per day. The Control group received routine auditory stimulation. Neonates in the two groups were in stable condition and kept in their isolettes. Infants were monitored for 40 minutes; 10 minutes baseline, 20 minutes into the intervention and 10 minutes post intervention. Data measures were heart rate, respiration rate, oxygen saturation and body weight. Result: The two groups differed significantly in the respiratory rate (p = 0.01) and oxygen saturation (p = 0.001). There were no significant differences in the heart rate (p = 0.24) and weight gain (p = 0.093) between the two groups. Conclusion: Preterm infants respond to lullaby music as evidenced by the changes in their respiratory rates and oxygen saturations. Although this study did not demonstrate an improvement in weight gain, further studies are recommended to examine the effect of music on other growth and developmental aspects.

Exposure to human voices has beneficial effects on preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit

“…Of the 11 studies, three were randomised trials (27)(28)(29) and eight utilised non-randomised designs (30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37). The sample size was very heterogeneous, ranging from 12 infants in one study (35) to 272 infants in another set of studies (28,29).…”

“…The average GA at birth was under 32 weeks in five studies (30,32,(34)(35)(36) and at least 32 weeks in three studies. In two studies, the range was wide and focused on infants up to 34 weeks (27,31), and the age at birth was not mentioned in the other study (37). The weeks of postmenstrual age at the time of enrolment were only reported in three studies (30,35,36).…”

“…We found that seven of the 11 studies used singing voices as stimuli (27)(28)(29)32,33,35,36), two used speaking voices (30,34) and two compared singing and speaking voices (31,37).…”

“…Stimuli were audio recordings in seven of the studies (27,31,(33)(34)(35)(36)(37). Only three studies used live stimuli produced by the mother's partners (28)(29)(30), and one study compared live and recorded stimuli (32).…”

“…The frequency varied from one day (36) to several weeks (30). The acoustic environment was reported in nine studies (27,29,(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37). Measurements were collected in decibels.…”