Effect of vocal stimulation on responses of premature infants

Background and Objectives: There are studies that support music and singing as appropriate developmental care for premature infants, thus, we conducted this study to investigate the physiological and behavioral responses of premature infants to Quran recitation, lullaby music and silence. Methods: In a randomized controlled trial (2011-2012),120 premature infants in the Neonatal Unit (NNU) at Izadi Hospital, were randomly assigned to experimental (holy Quran recitation, lullaby music and silence) and control groups. The four groups were surveyed for physiological responses including, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate and heart rate and behavioral states. The data were analyzed using SPSS-PC software and quantitative tests. Results: 66females and 54 male infants with gestational age 28- 36 weeks entered into the study. The fourgroupswere not significantly different in terms of demographic variables (P>0.05). The comparisonofchangesinthe infant’s responsesintheendof the intervention comparedtothebase lines, showedno statistically significant differencesbetweengroups(P>0.05). Repeated measures ANOVA and Friedman test did notindicate any significant differences in the mean ofresponseswithinanyof the four groups during the courseof study (P>0.05). Conclusion: Although fluctuations were observed in the mean of physiological responses and behavioral states in premature infants who listened to the recitation of the holy Quran and lullaby music, but these fluctuations were not significant. Findings of this study demonstrated that the preterm infants did not display any adverse reactions to the carefully designed acoustic intervention.