Early Vocal Contact and Preterm Infant Brain Development

Manuela Filippa, Ph.D., is an independent researcher. She collaborates with a number of Universities and Research Centers. Dr. Filippa has a rich and varied experience in the field of early musical interventions with infants and parents. Her research activity focuses mainly on bio-behavioral effects of singing on preterm and newborn infants, early vocal contact, non-verbal vocal communication abilities and ontogenesis of musical experiences. Pierre Kuhn, MD, Ph.D., is Professor of Pediatrics and Neonatology at the University of Strasbourg, head of the NICU at Hautepierre Hospital. He is also researcher at the Institut de Neurosciences Cellulaires et Intégratives, CNRS Strasbourg, France . Pr. Kuhn is interested in individualized developmental care implementation and research. He has conducted research in the field of sensory system development in preterm infants. Björn Westrup, MD, Ph.D., is Senior Consultant and Lecturer at the Karolinska Institute and Director of the Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Programme at Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden. Dr. Westrup's field of research focuses on medical and physiological aspects of developmentally supportive care, family-centered care, and iron metabolism. He has been director of the Karolinska NIDCAP Training Center since its founding in 1999.

Part I: The Maternal Voice: A Link Between Fetal and Neonatal Period.- Chapter 1. Maternal Voice and Communicative Musicality:  Sharing the Meaning of Life From Before Birth.- Chapter 2. Prenatal Experience with the Maternal Voice.- Chapter 3. The Maternal Voice as a Special Signal for Infants.- Chapter 4. Maternal Voice and Communication Development in Full-Term Newborn Infants.- Chapter 5. Brain Mechanisms in Emotional Voice Production and Perception: Insights into Early Vocal Interactions.- Part II: The NICU Acoustic Environment and the Preterm Infant's Auditory System Development.- Chapter 6. Differences between Intrauterine and NICU Environments: Acoustic Properties and Implications on Maternal Voice Perception.- Chapter 7. The Auditory Sensitivity of Preterm Infants toward Atypical Auditory Environment in the NICU.- Part III: The Early Vocal Contact in the NICU.- Part III: The Early Vocal Contact in the NICU.- Chapter 9. The Maternal Voice and its Influence on Stress and Sleep of the Preterm Infant.- Chapter 10. Supporting Language and Communication Development as Rationale for Early Maternal Vocal Contact with Preterm Infants.- Chapter 11. Recorded Maternal Voice, Recorded Music or Live Intervention in the NICU: A Bioecological Perspective.- Part V: Family-Centered Music Therapy Experiences in the NICU.- Chapter 12. Empowering Parents in Singing to Hospitalized Infants: The Role of the Music Therapist.- Chapter 13. Family-Centered Music Therapy as Facilitator for Parental Singing during Skin to Skin Contact: Sounding Together.- Part IV: Early Family-Based Interventions in the NICU.- Chapter 14. Stress-Sensitive Parental Brain Systems Regulate Emotion Response and Motivate Sensitive Child-Care.- Chapter 15. Mother/Infant Emotional Communication through the Lens of Visceral/Autonomic Learning andCalming Cycle Theory.- Chapter 16. Implications of Epigenetics in Developmental Care of Preterm Infants in the NICU: Preterm Behavioral Epigenetics.- Chapter 17. Family-Based Interventions and Developmental Care Programs: Rationale, Difficulties, and Effectiveness.