WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Recorded music, parent voices, and sung lullabies have been shown to increase oxygen saturation, nonnutritive sucking, and weight gain in premature infants.WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS: Parent-preferred melodies and entrained live rhythm and breath sounds can enhance quiet alert and sleep states, suck response, and oxygen saturation in premature infants and significantly reduce fear and anxiety perception in parents. abstract OBJECTIVES: Recorded music risks overstimulation in NICUs. The live elements of music such as rhythm, breath, and parent-preferred lullabies may affect physiologic function (eg, heart and respiratory rates, O 2 saturation levels, and activity levels) and developmental function (eg, sleep, feeding behavior, and weight gain) in premature infants. METHODS:A randomized clinical multisite trial of 272 premature infants aged $32 weeks with respiratory distress syndrome, clinical sepsis, and/or SGA (small for gestational age) served as their own controls in 11 NICUs. Infants received 3 interventions per week within a 2-week period, when data of physiologic and developmental domains were collected before, during, and after the interventions or no interventions and daily during a 2-week period.RESULTS: Three live music interventions showed changes in heart rate interactive with time. Lower heart rates occurred during the lullaby (P , .001) and rhythm intervention (P = .04). Sucking behavior showed differences with rhythm sound interventions (P = .03). Entrained breath sounds rendered lower heart rates after the intervention (P = .04) and differences in sleep patterns (P , .001). Caloric intake (P = .01) and sucking behavior (P = .02) were higher with parent-preferred lullabies. Music decreased parental stress perception (P , .001). CONCLUSIONS:The informed, intentional therapeutic use of live sound and parent-preferred lullabies applied by a certified music therapist can influence cardiac and respiratory function. Entrained with a premature infant' s observed vital signs, sound and lullaby may improve feeding behaviors and sucking patterns and may increase prolonged periods of quiet-alert states. Parent-preferred lullabies, sung live, can enhance bonding, thus decreasing the stress parents associate with premature infant care.

Music therapy can improve neonatal function and reduce anxiety in parents during neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stays. Live music entrained to an infant's observed vital signs, provided by a certified music therapist with First Sounds RBL (rhythm, breath, and lullaby) training, enhanced bonding for infant-parent dyads and triads. The author's song of kin intervention, which employs parent-selected songs, is compared to the presentation of a well-known folk theme ("Twinkle") in 272 neonates. Culturally based, parent-selected, personalized musical tunes provided in song, as a noninvasive intervention, foster optimal, continuous quality of care. Music psychotherapy sessions for parents before working with their infants can instill a potent means of nonconfrontational support, allowing for expression of fear or anxiety related to the premature birth. Although most attention is typically directed to their infant, using music can support the parents' grief and assist in the expression of hope that can instill a sense of security and containment. From the NICU to home, a familiar thread-line theme can be resourced directly from the family and/or parent and applied effortlessly throughout the growing baby's transitional moments.

MT significantly lowered patient anxiety and distress during the simulation procedure on the basis of the STAI-S questionnaire and SDT. Incorporating culturally centered individualized MT may be an effective intervention to reduce stressors. Continued research defining the role of MT intervention in improving the patient experience by reducing anxiety is warranted.

Sleep deficiency is linked to chronic health problems, such as heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, obesity, and depression. Healthcare practitioners are increasingly paying close attention to sleep and its impact on health and wellness as a measure of critical vitality. Sleep's impact on neurologic function, and cognitive endurance affect capacity throughout the lifespan. This article will address recent findings related to the potential of music to induce sleep in illness and wellness. Music therapy research findings and its efficacy as a potent cost-effective intervention will be highlighted.