The Importance of Early Auditory Experiences in Premature Infants - A Mom Testimony
“A premature baby’s main challenges are represented by the immaturity of the infant that is thrown from the optimal environment of the mother uterus into a very uncomfortable place with sounds, noises, lights and painful procedures that prevent her recuperating and developing fundamental competencies for grow and health. The baby knows how to communicate and tell us many things, but she needs somebody to listen to her and look at her. (1)”
Preterm birth, is the birth of a baby at fewer than 37 weeks gestational age. It is a common condition that affected about 1 out of 10 babies (9.6%) in the US during 2016 (2) and is the most common cause of death among infants worldwide.
Because of the gravity of this situation and the possibilities that exposure to sound offers to preterm babies and their parents, Genote invested many years in research and clinical experiences to develop a method based on structured listening protocols designed to help the baby’s neurological development, improve sleep, pain management, and recovery. Optimized for the clinical setting as well as the home, the Genote system can be implemented by families or medical personnel during and after hospitalization.
Preterm babies that spend their first weeks or months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are deprived of the entire range of sounds that would come from their mothers. These absent sounds are mainly sounds they would be hearing while in utero; low-frequency bands of the mother’s voice and rhythmic bits from the mother’s heartbeat.
Countless studies reviewed by the Genote scientific team show the importance to protect the baby from a wide array of noises (including harmful white noise) while stimulating the auditory system with structured sounds and melodies that allow for proper stimulation, development of the auditory brain, speech and language acquisition. (3-5)
In our many stories of supporting and informing families struggling with this problem, we met many great mothers and strong babies that teaches us not only about the meaning of life but also of their great resiliency and the importance of the human interaction for their growth and development. Lately, we met Diana from Los Angeles, who decided to try Genote on her two premature babies. This is her testimony.
“My twins are almost 2 1/2 years old and have been listening to their Genote sound machine since they were infants. They initially spent 31 (my daughter) and 35 days (my son) in the NICU. The music has been so soothing to them and I believe it helps them understand melody that much more in their music class and in our life. I would highly recommend it to all newborns and napping little ones over white noise.
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