Trial reportTrials2021
Listening to Mom in the NICU: effects of increased maternal speech exposure on language outcomes and white matter development in infants born very preterm.
Trial report in Trials, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04193579 (Listening to Mom in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), which is not on this map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Listening to Mom in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU): Neural, Clinical and Language Outcomes
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Parental cognitive stimulation in preterm-born children's neurocognitive functioning during the preschool years: a systematic review.Pediatric research · 2023Pooled it
- Musical and vocal interventions to improve neurodevelopmental outcomes for preterm infants.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Investigating parental perspectives of the enablers and barriers to communication with their preterm infants: A narrative study.Journal of child health care : for professionals working with children in the hospital and community · 2026Article
- Reading and White Matter Development: A Systematic Review of Neuroplastic Changes in Literacy.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Effect of home environment on neuropsychiatric development in preterm infants discharged from NICU at 18 months corrected age.General psychiatry · 2025Article
- Investigating Relations between the NICU Speech Environment and Weight Gain in Infants Born Very Preterm.American journal of perinatology · 2024Article
- Human white matter myelinates faster in utero than ex utero.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Monitoring of Communication Precursors in Extremely Low Birth Weight (ELBW) Newborns by Video Analysis Method: Preliminary Results.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Early Neurodevelopmental Outcomes after Previable Preterm Prelabour Rupture of Membranes (pPPROM).Case reports in pediatrics · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundInfants born very preterm (< 32 weeks gestational age (GA)) are at risk for developmental language delays. Poor language outcomes in children born preterm have been linked to neurobiological factors, including impaired development of the brain's structural connectivity (white matter), and environmental factors, including decreased exposure to maternal speech in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Interventions that enhance preterm infants' exposure to maternal speech show promise as potential strategies for improving short-term health outcomes. Intervention studies have yet to establish whether increased exposure to maternal speech in the NICU offers benefits beyond the newborn period for brain and language outcomes.
methodsThis randomized controlled trial assesses the long-term effects of increased maternal speech exposure on structural connectivity at 12 months of age (age adjusted for prematurity (AA)) and language outcomes between 12 and 18 months of age AA. Study participants (N = 42) will include infants born very preterm (24-31 weeks 6/7 days GA). Newborns are randomly assigned to the treatment (n = 21) or standard medical care (n = 21) group. Treatment consists of increased maternal speech exposure, accomplished by playing audio recordings of each baby's own mother reading a children's book via an iPod placed in their crib/incubator. Infants in the control group have the identical iPod setup but are not played recordings. The primary outcome will be measures of expressive and receptive language skills, obtained from a parent questionnaire collected at 12-18 months AA. The secondary outcome will be measures of white matter development, including the mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy derived from diffusion magnetic resonance imaging scans performed at around 36 weeks postmenstrual age during the infants' routine brain imaging session before hospital discharge and 12 months AA. DISCUSSION: The proposed study is expected to establish the potential impact of increased maternal speech exposure on long-term language outcomes and white matter development in infants born very preterm. If successful, the findings of this study may help to guide NICU clinical practice for promoting language and brain development. This clinical trial has the potential to advance theoretical understanding of how early language exposure directly changes brain structure for later language learning.
trial registrationNIH Clinical Trials (ClinicalTrials.gov) NCT04193579 . Retrospectively registered on 10 December 2019.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.