Overview

• Researchers enrolled 46 very preterm infants in Stanford-affiliated U.S. hospitals and compared those who heard their mother’s recordings with a control group.
• Mothers recorded a chapter of Paddington in their native language, and recordings were played during the night in 10-minute blocks to reach 160 minutes per day.
• Brain scans showed the left arcuate fasciculus, a key language-processing tract, was more mature in exposed infants, with smaller effects on the right side.
• The team describes the findings as the first causal evidence that early speech experience shapes infant brain development and is preparing broader follow-up studies.
• Plans include testing infants with additional medical complications and creating personalized NICU auditory programs, and the authors stress recordings do not replace skin-to-skin or in-person contact.