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Updated: Nov 2, 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
Utilising recorded music to reduce stress and enhance infant neurodevelopment in neonatal intensive care units
Nicole Mikulis1, Terrie E Inder1,2, Carmina Erdei1,2
1Brigham and Women's Hospital, Pediatric Newborn Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Insights
Recorded music interventions safely reduce stress and improve neurodevelopment in high-risk infants. Further research is needed to optimize these music therapies for neonatal intensive care units.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal care
- Developmental neuroscience
- Music therapy
Background:
- High-risk infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) experience significant stress.
- Stress in early life can negatively impact infant neurodevelopment.
- Non-pharmacological interventions are sought to support infant well-being in NICUs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To summarize evidence on recorded music interventions for high-risk infants.
- To assess the impact of music on infant stress and neurodevelopment.
- To propose clinical applications for music in NICUs.
Main Methods:
- Systematic literature search of library catalogues and databases.
- Inclusion of original and review articles from the past 10 years.
- Focus on studies involving recorded music interventions for hospitalized preterm infants.
Main Results:
- Over 80% of original studies and 100% of reviews reported positive short-term effects.
- No adverse effects of recorded music interventions were documented.
- Emerging evidence suggests neurobiological mechanisms for music's impact on neurodevelopment.
Conclusions:
- Recorded music interventions are safe, feasible, and effective for hospitalized infants.
- Music therapy shows promise in reducing infant stress and enhancing neurodevelopment.
- More rigorous trials are required to refine music intervention protocols for clinical practice.
Aim:
This paper summarises published evidence on the use of recorded music in high-risk infants to reduce stress and improve neurodevelopment, forming recommendations for proposed clinical applications in neonatal intensive care units.
Methods:
We searched two comprehensive library catalogues and two databases for articles evaluating the impact of recorded music interventions on hospitalised preterm infants. Original and review papers published in English in the 10 years prior to this search were selected if the study included a component of recorded music interventions.
Results:
Most original studies (80.95%) and all literature reviews (100%) reported positive effects of recorded music interventions for preterm infants, primarily in the short term. No negative effects were reported. Evidence is emerging regarding the neurobiological mechanisms of recorded music on longer-term effects on preterm infant neurodevelopment. Clinical applications were suggested drawing upon available evidence. Due to generally small sample sizes and variability in study design, unanswered questions remain.
Conclusion:
Carefully designed recorded music interventions appear to be safe, feasible and effective in reducing stress and improving neurodevelopment of hospitalised infants. Additional rigorous, well-powered trials with relevant outcomes are needed to further refine specific elements for recorded music interventions to better inform practice.
