This study examined the effect of sound exposure on brain development in hospitalized preterm newborns. However, exposing medically fragile preterm newborns to low-frequency audio recordings of their mothers on a daily basis has been less acknowledged to be of necessity, and the extent to which such maternal sound exposure can influence brain maturation after an extremely premature birth has been a matter of much debate. Efforts to improve the hospital environment for preterm neonates have primarily focused on reducing hospital noise and maintaining a quiet environment. In addition, the hospital environment contains a significant amount of high-frequency electronic sounds ( 52, 53) that are less likely to be heard in the womb because of the sound attenuation provided by maternal tissues and fluid within the intrauterine cavity ( 54– 56). These concerns are derived from the frequent reality that hospitalized preterm newborns are overexposed to loud, toxic, and unpredictable environmental noise generated by ventilators, infusion pumps, fans, telephones, pagers, monitors, and alarms ( 48– 51), whereas at the same time they are also deprived of the low-frequency, patterned, and biologically familiar sounds of their mother’s voice and heartbeat, which they would otherwise be hearing in utero ( 33, 45). Numerous studies have suggested that the auditory environment available for preterm infants in the NICU may not be conducive for their neurodevelopment ( 44– 47). Further studies are needed to better understand the neural processes underlying this early brain plasticity and its functional implications for future hearing and language development.Ĭonsidering the acoustic gap between the NICU environment and the womb, it is not surprising that auditory brain development is compromised in preterm compared with full-term infants ( 42, 43). Our results demonstrate that despite the immaturity of the auditory pathways, the AC is more adaptive to maternal sounds than environmental noise. This study provides evidence for experience-dependent plasticity in the primary AC before the brain has reached full-term maturation. Measurements of head circumference and the widths of the frontal horn (FH) and the corpus callosum (CC) were not significantly different between the two groups. The magnitude of the right and left AC thickness was significantly correlated with gestational age but not with the duration of sound exposure. Results show that newborns exposed to maternal sounds had a significantly larger auditory cortex (AC) bilaterally compared with control newborns receiving standard care. Cranial ultrasonography measurements were obtained at 30 ± 3 d of life. The groups were otherwise medically and demographically comparable. Newborns were randomized to receive auditory enrichment in the form of audio recordings of maternal sounds (including their mother’s voice and heartbeat) or routine exposure to hospital environmental noise. The present study examined this question in 40 infants born extremely prematurely (between 25- and 32-wk gestation) in the first month of life. 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. Brain development is largely shaped by early sensory experience.
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