Photo Credit: BBC Science Focus
Turns out music is good for a baby both in and out of the womb.
A recent study has shown that babies being born prematurely has continued to rise in the past 20 years. The cause for concern here is that the baby is not getting the full nourishment of life in the womb. By leaving the womb early, the baby is missing out on the full comforting experience of being secured in the mother’s belly.
Researchers at the University Hospital in Geneva, Switzerland, are developing a musical program that can help to bring some of that comfort that they are missing. Special headphones were developed for the fragile heads to play three songs that the premature babies would listen to.
The goal is to see how well the babies can recognize the musical elements of pitch, tempo, and melody. These skills are all related to language processing, which is something the babies would have continued to develop while remaining in the womb of their mother.
To track the progress, the team will scan the babies’ brains using an MRI and compare it to the babies who were not getting the musical treatment. The songs were carefully developed to help the baby fall asleep, wake up, and interact with people.
Early results are indicating that this experiment seems to be working. The scans are revealing improved brain connectivity. The songs are providing the soothing sounds that the babies need, especially in an intensive care unit that is active and very noisy.
This is a big step in the right direction to help premature babies have a chance to develop their brains in a similar way to babies who go the full term. Music has the power to help heal struggling adults in difficult situations, so it is no wonder that it would be a beneficial component in the brain development of premature babies.
