Mozart’s music may help growth of premature babies

December 8, 2009 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: Baby Health, News

The music of Mozart was found to reduce energy use and encourage growth in premature babies in a recent study.

Research out of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in Israel has found that premature babies who spent 30 minutes resting to the music of Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had a 10 to 13 percent reduction in their metabolism, which encouraged growth in the babies’ bodies.

The authors of the study wrote: “Within 10 minutes of listening to Mozart music, healthy [premature] infants had a 10 percent to 13 percent reduction of their resting energy expenditure. We speculate that this effect of music on resting energy expenditure might explain, in part, the improved weight gain that results from this Mozart effect.”

The research, published Monday in the online version of the journal Pediatrics, was based on a randomized trial of 20 healthy babies born prematurely, receiving a regulated amount of food from delivery tubes. Half listened to no music during a 30-minute period while the other half listened to Mozart. Sessions were held for two days.

Researchers found that in the group that listened to Mozart, starting ten minutes into the session, the babies’ resting energy expenditure decreased from 10 to 13 percent, a state that lasted throughout the final 20 minutes of the session. The babies’ resting energy was tested indirectly by measuring oxygen and carbon dioxide levels.

Dr. Cheryl Cipriani, director of Scott and White Memorial Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, told U.S. News and World Report: “When you’re born early, lots of the pathways in the brain are still being laid down and developing, and then babies are put in an environment where there are lots of unfamiliar sounds and other stimuli, which may cause sensory overload. Music may help decrease those noxious influences.”

It wasn’t known if the results could be reproduced with different music, or if there was a specific link to the music of Mozart. The researchers theorized that Mozart’s music may be more soothing due to the repetition of melody often found in his music.

The research team recognizes that any implications drawn from the brief study “belong to the field of speculation.” More tests using different music, more subjects, and longer test periods are needed to determine if music could help preterm babies gain weight faster.