Music therapy for Preterm Infants (NICU-MT Trial)

Several positive physiological and behavioural outcomes have been observed in preterm infants exposed to music therapy during their stay at Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU). There is ample evidence in the literature showing that brief exposure to music can lead to superior performance on a host of cognitive tasks in laboratory settings in children, adolescent and adults. However, till date no study has examined the cognitive benefits of NICU music therapy in preterm infants. Further habituation tests have been employed to examine cognitive functioning in infants in laboratory setting but the same test have not been employed as a measure to examine early cognitive functioning in preterm infants. This project will be carried out to examine the benefits of NICU music therapy on the cognitive functioning of preterm infants born at 27- 33 weeks of gestational age. A randomized controlled research design will be employed to compare cognitive functioning between the treatment and control group at 18 - 24 months of corrected gestational age. The treatment group will be exposed to music therapy during their stay in NICU and the controlled group will be exposed to all standardized care available at our institution except music therapy. Habituation tests will be used to examine cognitive functioning of the preterm infants in groups at 18 - 24 months of gestational age.