The benefits of music therapy on preterm infants in the intensive care unit

Abstract This clinical study seeks to demonstrate the benefits that music therapy (MT) can provide, by the analysis of heart rate (HR), respiratory rate, peripheral oxygen saturation and the Neonatal Facial Coding System (NFCS) pain scale on preterm (PT) neonates hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit, where they are exposed to factors which are stressful and harmful to their health. During the period between March and September 2022, each hospitalized PT neonate was submitted to a single 20 minutes music therapy session with non-classical instrumental music without voice. A total of 17 PT neonates were included in the analysis of this study. The data collected demonstrated that MT was beneficial in stabilizing vital signs with an average reduction in HR of 12 beats per minute during the therapy (p = 0.012). Conclusion: Music therapy is capable of stabilizing vital signs such as heart rate in a single session and reducing the stress of the neonate.