“Need for interventional studies on the impact of music in the perinatal period: results of a pilot study on women’s preferences and review of the literature”

Abstract

Aim of the study: Studies investigating the impact of pre- or postnatal music exposure on child development are scarce. Therefore, we conducted this pilot study. Material and methods: Five hundred pregnant women, 246 primigravidae, and 254 multigravidae were interviewed about listening to, singing and performing music during pregnancy and after birth. χ², Wilcoxon, and Mc Nemar tests were used to calculate significant differences. Results: Prenatally, 361/500 women (72.2%) listened to music at least once/week, 129/500 women (25.8%) answered to sing at least once/week and 23/500 (4.6%) performed music regularly. While listening to music was equally distributed when considering maternal age, education and parity, singing was more frequent in mothers of advanced age (p = 0.031), higher education (p = 0.001), and parity (p = 0.001). In multigravidae, listening decreased from 72.4% prenatally to 59.2% post-natally (p < 0.002); however, singing increased from 36% to 46.4% (p < 0.001) from pre- to postnatally, both independent of education and maternal age. Singing during pregnancy was more frequent in women of higher qualification compared to secondary and basic education: 39.6% versus 20.8% and in women of maternal age> 30: 31.4% compared to < 30: 17.5% (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Our study should be a basis for further interventional programs relating to neurodevelopment and bonding.

Keywords::

• Bonding
• fetal senses
• maternal stress reduction
• music during pregnancy
• neurodevelopment
• parental singing

Acknowledgment

We thank Magdalena Kožená and Prof. Reinhard Goebel for inspiring and supporting this study. We also thank all gynecologists Dr. Eichler, Dr. Fischer, Dr. Giffels, Dr. Heitmann, Dr. Hoffmann, Dr. Petersen, Dr. Renke, Dr. Rieger, Dr. Riemer, Dr. Sartorius, Dr. Snopko, Dr. Weiss, Dr. Zierold. who supported to distribute the questionnaires in our region.

Declaration of Interest: The authors report no conflict of interest.