Researchers are exploring how music therapy can improve health outcomes among various patient populations, including premature infants and people with depression and Parkinson’s disease.
A study suggests that some sounds, such as lullabies, may soothe pre-term babies and their parents and even improve the infants’ sleeping and eating patterns while decreasing parents’ stress (Pediatrics, 2013).
Researchers at Beth Israel Medical Center’s Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine conducted a study that examined the effects of three types of music: a lullaby selected and sung by the baby’s parents; an “ocean disc,” a round instrument, invented by the Remo drum company, that mimics the sounds of the womb; and a gato box, a drum-like instrument used to simulate two-tone heartbeat rhythms. Certified music therapists played the two instruments live and matched their music to the babies’ breathing and heart rhythms.
The researchers found that the gato box, the Remo ocean disc, and singing slowed a baby’s heart rate. Among those methods, singing is the most effective and increased the number of times babies stayed quietly alert, and sucking behavior improved most with the gato box, while the ocean disc enhanced sleep. The music therapy also lowered the parents’ stress, says Joanne Loewy, the study’s lead author, director of the Armstrong center, and co-editor of the journal Music and Medicine.
“There’s just something about music; particularly live music that excites and activates the body,” says Loewy, who is a part of music therapists and psychologists investigating the use of music in medicine to help patients dealing with pain, depression, and possibly even Alzheimer’s disease. “Music very much has a way of enhancing the quality of life and can, in addition, promote recovery.”
Kita Therapy believes that music therapy is an effective method for speech therapy; thus, should you need music therapy in Mascot, Sydney, feel free to consult with us or book an appointment. Our clinic is an NDIS provider-speech pathology clinic that can help your toddlers find a therapy that suits them.