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Updated: Dec 30, 2025
Clinical Practice Protocol of Creative Music Therapy for Preterm Infants and Their Parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Published on: January 7, 2020
Creative music therapy to promote brain function and brain structure in preterm infants: A randomized controlled
Friederike Barbara Haslbeck1, Andras Jakab2, Ulrike Held3
1Department of Neonatology, University Hospital Zurich and University Zurich, Frauenklinikstrasse 10, 8091 Zürich, Switzerland.
Insights
Creative music therapy (CMT) shows promise for improving brain connectivity in very preterm infants. This nonpharmacological intervention may enhance cognitive and socio-emotional development, potentially improving long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Pediatrics
- Music Therapy Research
Background:
- Very preterm infants often experience severe cognitive and neurobehavioral problems.
- Nonpharmacological interventions, like creative music therapy (CMT), may mitigate these neurodevelopmental impairments.
- CMT offers social contact and musical stimulation tailored to infant needs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the feasibility of a study on CMT in very preterm infants.
- To measure the short- and medium-term effects of CMT on brain structure and function using MRI.
- To investigate CMT's impact on brain connectivity.
Main Methods:
- A randomized, controlled clinical pilot feasibility trial involving 82 infants.
- Infants were randomized to either CMT or standard care.
- MRI (diffusion tensor imaging and resting-state functional imaging) was used to assess brain connectivity.
Main Results:
- Clinical feasibility was achieved, with 40 infants in the final MRI analysis cohort.
- CMT showed moderate effects on structural brain connectivity, with increased integration in the posterior cingulate cortex.
- CMT infants exhibited lower thalamocortical processing delay, stronger functional networks, and higher functional integration in key brain regions.
Conclusions:
- CMT demonstrates beneficial effects on functional brain activity and connectivity in preterm infants.
- These effects involve networks crucial for cognitive, socio-emotional, and motor functions.
- CMT holds potential for improving long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes in very preterm children.
Abstract:
Cognitive and neurobehavioral problems are among the most severe adverse outcomes in very preterm infants. Such neurodevelopmental impairments may be mitigated through nonpharmacological interventions such as creative music therapy (CMT), an interactive, resource- and needs-oriented approach that provides individual social contact and musical stimulation. The aim was to test the feasibility of a study investigating the role of CMT and to measure the short- and medium-term effects of CMT on structural and functional brain connectivity with MRI. In this randomized, controlled clinical pilot feasibility trial, 82 infants were randomized to either CMT or standard care. A specially trained music therapist provided CMT via infant-directed humming and singing in lullaby style. To test the short-term effects of CMT on brain structure and function, diffusion tensor imaging data and resting-state functional imaging data were acquired. Clinical feasibility was achieved despite moderate parental refusal mainly in the control group after randomization. 40 infants remained as final cohort for the MRI analysis. Structural brain connectivity appears to be moderately affected by CMT, structural connectomic analysis revealed increased integration in the posterior cingulate cortex only. Lagged resting-state MRI analysis showed lower thalamocortical processing delay, stronger functional networks, and higher functional integration in predominantly left prefrontal, supplementary motor, and inferior temporal brain regions in infants treated with CMT. This trial provides unique evidence that CMT has beneficial effects on functional brain activity and connectivity in networks underlying higher-order cognitive, socio-emotional, and motor functions in preterm infants. Our results indicate the potential of CMT to improve long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes in children born very preterm.
