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. 2022 Jan 21;9(2):140.
doi: 10.3390/children9020140.

Maternal Singing but Not Speech Enhances Vagal Activity in Preterm Infants during Hospitalization: Preliminary Results

Manuela Filippa  1   2 , Mimma Nardelli  3   4 , Elisa Della Casa  5 , Alberto Berardi  6 , Odoardo Picciolini  7 , Sara Meloni  7 , Clara Lunardi  8 , Alessandra Cecchi  9 , Alessandra Sansavini  10 , Luigi Corvaglia  11   12 , Enzo Pasquale Scilingo  3   4 , Fabrizio Ferrari  6 , Evc Group
Affiliations

Maternal Singing but Not Speech Enhances Vagal Activity in Preterm Infants during Hospitalization: Preliminary Results

Manuela Filippa et al. Children (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: Early parental interventions in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) have beneficial effects on preterm infants' short and long-term outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Early Vocal Contact (EVC)-singing and speaking-on preterm infants' vagal activity and autonomic nervous system (ANS) maturation.

Methods: In this multi-center randomized clinical trial, twenty-four stable preterm infants, born at 25-32 weeks gestational age, were randomized to either the EVC group or control group, where mothers did not interact with the babies but observed their behavior. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) was acquired before intervention (pre-condition), during vocal contact, and after it (post condition).

Results: No significant effect of the vocal contact, singing and speaking, was found in HRV when the intervention group was compared to the control group. However, a significant difference between the singing and the pre and post conditions, respectively, preceding and following the singing intervention, was found in the Low and High Frequency power nu, and in the low/high frequency features (p = 0.037). By contrast, no significant effect of the speaking was found.

Conclusions: Maternal singing, but not speaking, enhances preterm infants' vagal activity in the short-term, thus improving the ANS stability. Future analyses will investigate the effect of enhanced vagal activity on short and long-term developmental outcomes of preterm infants in the NICU.

Keywords: early vocal contact; heart rate variability; maternal voice; preterm infants.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Illustrations of the intervention (top) and the control (bottom) groups. The order of singing and speaking was reversed on the following day.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Median and MAD of HF power nu for the three time conditions related to control, singing, and speaking groups. The asterisk indicates the sessions that resulted significantly different after we used Bonferroni’s test for post hoc analysis.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Median and MAD of LF power nu for the different time conditions related to control, singing, and speaking groups. The asterisk indicates the significant comparisons observed after we used Bonferroni’s test for post hoc analysis.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Median and MAD of LF/HF for the three time conditions related to the control, singing and speaking groups. The asterisk indicates the significant comparisons observed after we used Bonferroni’s test for post hoc analysis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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