How The Sound Of A Mother’s Voice Can Help Preterm Babies

A new study has revealed that a mother’s voice may play a crucial role in the health of premature babies.

How The Maternal Voice Helps Preterm Babies

French scientists from University of Paris Ouest Nanterre examined 512 preterm infants, who were born between 2000 and 2015, to see whether the sound of their mother’s voice – whether it was recorded or live – helped with the baby’s recovery and short term development.

According to the review, which was published in journal Acta Paediatrica, maternal voice does appear to play a significant role in helping to stabilise the infant.

The study’s lead author Dr Manuela Filippa suggests the findings supports the beneficial effects of maternal vocal interventions, particularly in infants born before 32 weeks.

“Preterm infants’ state becomes more stable when mothers talk and sing to them, with potential clinical benefits on autonomous nervous system maturation,” says Dr. Filippa.

However, this study does not evaluate the long-term impact of the mother’s voice on the babies.

Another Study

In a similar study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the sound of a mother’s voice was found to be linked to the baby’s brain development.

Ultrasounds were taken of 40 preterm infants who were born between 25 and 32 weeks of gestation. The first ultrasound of the brain was taken at birth and then a follow-up when the babies were one month old.

Infants who had been exposed to sound recordings of their mum’s voice while in the incubator were shown to have more well-developed auditory cortices (the part of the temporal lobe that processes auditory information) than those babies who had not been exposed to a sound recording.

“Brain development is largely shaped by early sensory experience,” wrote the study’s authors.

“However, it is currently unknown whether, how early, and to what extent the newborn’s brain is shaped by exposure to maternal sounds when the brain is most sensitive to early life programming.”

“Results show that newborns exposed to maternal sounds had a significantly larger auditory cortex (AC) bilaterally compared with control newborns receiving standard care.

“The magnitude of the right and left AC thickness was significantly correlated with gestational age but not with the duration of sound exposure.”