PurposeThe purpose of this study was to identify the long-term developmental effects of a NICU music therapy intervention, Multimodal Neurologic Enhancement, provided to preterm infants in the NICU.DesignProspective randomized controlled study with one control group and one experimental group.SampleParticipants were medically stable preterm infants with a birth age of 31 and 6/7 weeks or less, admitted to a level-III NICU. A total of 84 participants were enrolled, and 48 completed the study.Main Outcome VariablePost-discharge developmental scores on the Mullen Scales of Early Learning: AGS Edition.ResultsThe experimental group performed significantly better than the control group on the Visual Reception and Early Learning Composite scores.
Early exposure to age-appropriate, meaningful auditory stimuli, such as lullaby singing, has been shown to advance various medical and developmental goals in premature infants in the NICU while reducing medical costs. A primary goal of NICU music therapists is to control auditory stimuli in the unit to help premature infants reach the greatest possible sedation. In hospitals with limited or no NICU music therapy (NICU-MT) coverage, nurses and other NICU staff can play an important role in providing neuroprotection to these premature infants while also optimizing neurodevelopment via use of recorded music. Based on current literature, this article provides a set of evidence-based guidelines for the use of recorded music with premature infants.
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