When premature babies hear their mother’s voice, they experience less pain. Swiss researchers now want to use this effect for a therapy: It should help premature babies to endure medical examinations more easily.
Intubation in particular is stressful for premature babies, but soothing medication can only be administered in rare cases, as the effects on their brain function are not yet known in detail. Simple measures could help here: previous studies have already found that skin contact between parents and child had a calming effect on the babies. Researchers at the University of Geneva have now discovered that the mother’s voice can help relieve pain.
Twenty premature babies were examined for the study in the journal “Scientific Reports”. During their stay in the intensive care unit at Parini Hospital in Italy, the researchers tested the babies’ sensitivity to pain. This was analyzed, among other things, with the “Premature Infant Pain Profile” (PIPP) – a method that uses the babies’ facial expressions as an indication of possible pain and rates it on a scale (from 0 to 21). If the mother spoke to her child during the examination, the PIPP sank on average from 4.5 to level 3. When the mother sang to her baby, the PIPP sank to 3.8.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
