None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Infants born preterm are at high risk of developing cognitive, behavioural and emotional deficits later in life. One in three infants born before 32 weeks of pregnancy exhibits a language delay, with communication difficulties persisting into adulthood. While advances in neonatal medicine have resulted in decreased mortality for preterm infants, neurodevelopmental problems in survivors have remained unchanged. We propose a parent driven intervention focused on increased exposure to parents’ speech to promote language development in the preterm infant, giving those most vulnerable the greatest chance to thrive.
Interventions
Intervention Arm 1: The newborn’s mother will be asked to record themselves reading a series of infant-suitable, culturally appropriate story books. Culturally appropriate books, in a language chosen by the family, will be provided by the study team. Indigenous families will be provided with books through the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.
Throughout the preterm infant’s neonatal unit admission (during the hours of 0700 to 2200) maternal voice recordings will be played during common events whe
Intervention Arm 1: The newborn’s mother will be asked to record themselves reading a series of infant-suitable, culturally appropriate story books. Culturally appropriate books, in a language chosen by the family, will be provided by the study team. Indigenous families will be provided with books through the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. Throughout the preterm infant’s neonatal unit admission (during the hours of 0700 to 2200) maternal voice recordings will be played during common events where an infant may experience stress or discomfort eg. 4-6 hourly routine cares, intravenous access, cranial ultrasound etc. Between cares or when a parent is not visiting, infants will have normal quiet rest time. The volume of the recordings will be limited to levels below the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended levels of 45dBs for sound exposure for newborns. Intervention Arm 2: Both parents will be asked to record themselves reading stories, which will be delivered as per intervention arm 1. Both parents will be asked to record the same book. For both arms of the trial, within the first week of life parents will be asked to record themselves reading the provided books. This will ensure recordings can be played to infants as soon as possible. Recordings will be played when parents are not at the cot side for cares between 0700 and 2200. Cares occur every 4-6 hours depending on the clinical state. Therefore, if a parent is not present that day they may be played the recording 2 to 4 times per day, with the frequency recorded. The duration of the played recording will vary between 10-30 minutes, depending on the type of care being provided. This will occur for the infants entire admission to the unit until discharge home. All recordings will be administered by the bed side nurse and each speaker will be placed at the bottom of the cot. Duration of the played recordings will be documented by the bedside nurse to monitor adherence.
Sponsors
Southern Adelaide Local Health Network
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
No minimum to 32 Weeks
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
All infants born less then 32 weeks' gestation
Exclusion criteria
• Congenital diagnosis associated with known neurodevelopmental delay or impairment. • Neonate with no reasonable likelihood of survival. • Neonate whose parent/s are not willing to participate in voice recordings.
Outcome results
None listed