Ventilators, phones, pagers, and alarms are essential hospital equipment. Yet this technol-ogy creates loud sounds, which

can overwhelm premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). According to Amir Lahav, ScD, PhD, director of the BWH Neonatal Audio Facilitation Program, an infant’s audi-tory system requires meaningful auditory stimulation in order to develop properly. However, meaningful sounds, such as the mother’s voice, are barely audible to pre-term infants in the NICU because of the level of background noise typically present. A professional musician by training, Lahav also has a Doctor of Science degree in rehabilitation medicine—and he is a parent. In May 2007, his wife gave birth to Mia and Agam, premature twins, who were

born at 25 weeks and weighed just over one pound each. Starting on day five, Lahav had his twins listen daily to a recording of their mother’s voice and heartbeat, as they would in the womb. The twins, now toddlers, scored “advanced” on a benchmark test for their age group. Now Lahav wants other babies to benefit. He has developed innovative audio technology that transmits maternal sounds to NICU incubators, providing babies with a more soothing and developmentally appropriate environment. During the next three years, Lahav will oversee a first-of-its-kind study of 100 premature babies to determine the effects of early exposure to maternal sounds on long-term brain development. “Technology today allows more pree-mies to survive, but many have persistent problems that we didn’t anticipate 10 years ago,” says Steven Ringer, MD, PhD, chief of the BWH Division of Newborn Medi-cine. “The potential of the study is enormous because about 12 percent of babies born in the United States are premature, and the transition from the womb to the noisy NICU only increases the risk for such problems.” In the short term, Lahav’s team predicts that this

program will have an impact on the health, growth, and development of infants in the study. In the future, Lahav believes that NICUs across the country will be inspired by this research to include audio systems in their incubators. u

To support this innovative project, contact the BWH Development Office at 617-424-4300.

Mom’s voice is food for preemies’ brainBWH program uses maternal sounds to Help premature infants develop

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left: lahav with his daughter, mia, at the BWH niCu during kangaroo care where the baby gets skin-to-skin time with mom and dad. mia was 16 days old, 27 weeks’ gesta-tion. Because her lungs were premature, she received oxygen through small tubes that fit into her nostrils.

right: lahav twins, mia (right) and agam (left), at two years, having fun on their front porch.

Below: this baby incubator features dr. lahav’s micro audio speakers (indicated by the blue light), which help reduce noise and transmit soothing music and maternal sounds to the baby while in the incubator.