PreMusic & BabyMusic

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Infants born prematurely spend a part of the period corresponding to the third trimester of gestation in the NICU, where they are deprived of normal maternal/environmental sounds. This may result in disturbances to auditory temporal processing and in turn the development of general cognitive capacities. In this longitudinal and cross-sectional study, we investigate the development of rhythm perception starting from the third trimester of gestation (28 weeks gestational age, wGA) into the first year of life. Furthermore, we evaluate the impact of musically oriented interventions in preterm infants in the NICU, on auditory rhythm processing in the course of early development.

We conduct a neuroimaging approach using high-resolution electroencephalography and functional near infrared spectroscopy to study the neural response of newborns and infants to rhythmic auditory stimuli. We also conduct behavioral tasks targeting rhythmic capacities to address the cognitive/neuro-development, and both rhythmic perception and production capacities in the course of early development.