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The Mozart Test: Exposure to classical music may help premature babies gain

Category: General Health

Researchers at Tel Aviv University have found that the development of babies who are born prematurely may be aided by exposure to music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The study found that premature babies who are exposed to 30 minutes of the 18th century composer's music every day expend less energy and require fewer calories to properly develop.

"The repetitive melodies in Mozart's music may be affecting the organizational centers of the brain's cortex," said lead researcher Dror Mandel.

"Unlike Beethoven, Bach or Bartok, Mozart's music is composed with a melody that is highly repetitive," he added. "This might be the musical explanation. For the scientific one, more investigation is needed."

Mandel believes that exposure to classical music may make babies calmer and less likely to be agitated. Immediate weight gain is crucial for premature infants in order to help them fight off infection and disease common in hospitals.

The next step for researchers is to survey mothers to discover what kinds of music their babies "listened" to in the womb to see what kind of affect it has on prenatal development.