Johannes Brahms never had kids, but he well knew the wonder-working power his lullabies had over babies-something harried moms have known for centuries.
New research at FSU now pushes music's mysterious power into a potentially revolutionary dimension in modifying baby behavior. If all goes well, the year 2000 will see the commercial debut of the world's first musical pacifier, a device conceived by an FSU innovator in music therapy.
A product of 10 years of self-supported research led by music therapist Dr. Jayne Standley, the device combines the soothing power of lullabies with an ingenious design that helps newborn infants grasp the critically important skill of sucking, a talent not all babies are born with.
Aimed specifically at addressing a long-standing problem among premature infants-delayed proficiencies in learning to suck from either breast or bottle-Standley's musical pacifier has demonstrated what she calls "amazing" results in repeated tests done at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, a local hospital. The device delivers music reinforcement each time a premature infant sucks a specially wired pacifier. Infants thus learn to suck along with reassuring sounds of CD-based lullabies (all recorded by female performers) while worried mothers and care-givers get pacified at the same time.
Scheduled to be marketed under the name "PAL," (Pacifier-Activated-Lullaby), the invention exploits infants' natural appetite for music and applies it in a medically useful way in neonatal care. In only minutes, "preemies" as young as eight months and weighing as little as three pounds can get the hang of the pacifier, says Standley. In one test, a "preemie" who had never fed orally before sucked down a whole bottle of formula after 15 minutes of training with the musical pacifier, Standley said.
Poor or entirely missing sucking skills in infants-both premature and full-term-is a common occurrence that inhibits babies' physical and mental development and can lead to protracted-and thus costly-stays in hospitals and birth centers. FSU is licensing the development of its musical pacifier to a healthcare company that specializes in providing music therapy equipment to hospitals.
