Live music has positive effects on hospitalised premature babies

Music stimulation can have beneficial effects on pre-term infants during their hospitalisation in the neonatal intensive care unit.

This is the finding of research by physicians at the Meir General Hospital in Israel being presented on Friday 3 September 2004, at the British Psychological Society's Developmental Section Conference, which is taking place at Leeds Metropolitan University.

The research was conducted by Dr Shmuel Arnon and colleagues, who compared the effects of playing live music, pre-recorded music and no music to 15 infants.

It was found that playing the live music was associated with significantly deeper sleep and reduced heart rate during the thirty minutes following the music. The live music used was a specially composed wordless lullaby sung by a female voice with a simple instrumental accompaniment.

Dr Arnon said: "Music soothes and lullabies are believed to quieten babies. In recent years evidence has shown that music improves the physiological responses and growth of pre-term infants. Infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit are often subjected to noise levels which cause concern but the special properties of the music can provide benefits and a solution to the noise."

Ref: PR670