Music helps to build the brains of very premature babies

Researchers from UNIGE and HUG demonstrate how music specially composed for premature infants strengthens the development of their brain networks and could limit the neurodevelopmental delays that often affect these children. In Switzerland, as in most industrialized countries, nearly 1% of children are born "very prematurely", i.e. before the 32nd week of pregnancy, which represents about 800 children yearly. While advances in neonatal medicine now give them a good chance of survival, these children are however at high risk of developing neuropsychological disorders. To help the brains of these fragile newborns develop as well as possible despite the stressful environment of intensive care, researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG), Switzerland, propose an original solution: music written especially for them. And the first results, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in the United States, are surprising: medical imaging reveals that the neural networks of premature infants who have listened to this music, and in particular a network involved in many sensory and cognitive functions, are developing much better. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the HUG welcomes each year 80 children born far too early - between 24 and 32 weeks of pregnancy, i.e. almost four months ahead of schedule for some of them. The vast majority will survive, but half will later develop neurodevelopmental disorders, including learning difficulties, attentional or emotional disorders.