Listening to Mom in the NICU

Official Research Title: Listening to Mom in the NICU: Neural, clinical and language outcomes

Prinicipal Investigator: Katherine Travis, PhD

Research Coordinator: Maya Morales

Study Description: Children born preterm are at-risk for developmental language delays. Language problems in preterm children are thought to be related to neurobiological factors, including injuries to white matter structures of the brain and environmental factors, including decreased exposure to maternal speech in the hospital nursery. To help minimize these problems, the present research aims to demonstrate that a language intervention, which involves playing recordings of a mother's voice to an infant while s/he is in the hospital nursery, will be effective for promoting healthy brain and language development in babies born preterm.

Funding Souce: This research is supported by funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R00HD084749.

Collaborators: Melissa Scala, MD

Cross-referenced Under: Clinical Trials & Interventions