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Does exposure of premature infants to repetitive recorded mother sounds improve neurodevelopmental outcome?

Although major auditory structures are anatomically in place by 25-wk gestation, neonates undergo active functional maturation. At term, infants have a low threshold for sounds in the speech frequency, respond differently to speech and nonspeech stimuli, and demonstrate preference to familiar sound even if they are exposed to it in utero (1, 2). Recent studies have demonstrated that exposure of premature infants to maternal sound is associated with more cardiovascular and behavioral stability (3, 4). We felt enthusiastic to read the paper recently published by Webb et al. studying the effect of mother’s voice and heartbeat sounds on, what they described as, auditory plasticity (5).