Behavioural and autonomic responses to sound in pre-term and full-term babies

The pattern of motor (body movement) and autonomic (heart rate and respiration) responses to no sound and sound trials were compared in 20 pre-term and 22 full-term neonates. Sound levels were calibrated using neonatal ear-sized couplers to produce, in the neonatal ear, sound levels of 80, 90 and 100 dB SPL. Accelerations in heart rate (> or = beats per minute for pre-terms; > or = 7 beats per minute for full-terms) were found to be the best criterion for establishing a possible response using bandpass noise at 80, 90 or 100 dB SPL. Respiration rate decreased in response to sound stimuli, this being significant for the pre-term group for the 100 dB SPL stimulus when comparing the 5 s period post-stimulus with the stimulus period. The number of movements detected during the sound trials was higher than for the control trials, being statistically significant for the pre-term group. These changes were elicited in response to stimuli presented at levels some 20-40 dB lower than for other studies and for behavioural screening because sounds were calibrated in an appropriately sized coupler. It is concluded that the response to sound is different in the pre-term group compared with the full-term group.