Maternal Voice Effect on Preterm Neonates in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Abstract Background The mother's voice, along with other developmentally appropriate sensory events (ie, touch, light, smells), stimulates maturation of the sensory systems and helps shape normal fetal development. Few studies have addressed the effects of exposure to maternal voice for preterm infants’ stress. Objective To evaluate the effect of maternal voice on neonatal stress as assessed by NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS) scale. Patients and Methods This randomized controlled interventional study included 64 preterm infants (<36 weeks gestational age). They were divided into two groups; intervention group included 32 preterms who were exposed to mothers’ voice and standardized group included 32 preterms who were not exposed to mothers’ voice then neurobehavioral assessment was done through the NNNS scoring system through thirteen summary scores which are habituation, tolerance of handling, quality of movement, selfregulation skills, non-optimal reflexes, stress signs, arousal, hypertonia, hypotonia, asymmetry, excitability, lethargy and orientation, with exposure to recorded maternal voice for 30 minutes and assessment immediately before, after and at 60 minutes after exposure versus no intervention at all. Cases were recruited and assessed for eligibility from Ain Shams University NICUs. Results There was a statistically significant neurobehavioral improvement according to NNNS scoring system among cases in the intervention group immediately and after 60 minutes of exposure to the mother’s voice (P value<0.001). Conclusion Exposure to maternal voice has positive effects on the preterm infants’ behavior and emotions as assessed by thirteen summary scores of NNNS.