"Using Music To Stabilize NICU Babies—As Well As Their Parents" - Elizabeth Whitman
When music therapist Christine Vaskas works with babies in the neonatal intensive-care unit, the effect of her interventions are almost always immediately apparent. "If I see the heart rate is high or jumping around, and I provide an intervention," Vaskas said, "all of a sudden I see the heart rate stabilize. It's bringing the baby back to the womb in an auditory way." In 2013, a study led by Joanne Loewy, director of the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine, found that certain live sounds, when provided in a music therapy context, could influence the respiratory and cardiac functions of premature infants. "We don't just work with these babies. The reality is that they go home when they're ready," Dr. Loewy said. "And lots of times when you have fragile babies, you have fragile parents, so part of our model is to provide music psychotherapy for the parents."
- Joanne Loewy, DA, LCAT, MT-BC, Associate Clinical Professor, Family Medicine and Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Director, The Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Mount Sinai Beth Israel
- Christine Vaskas, MS, LCAT, MT-BC, NICU Music Therapist, Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Mount Sinai Beth Israel