婴儿的大脑发育离不开母亲的嗓音

The sound of a mother’s voice plays a critical role in a baby’s early development, multiple studies have shown. Now, researchers have demonstrated that the brain itself may rely on a mother’s voice and heartbeat to grow.

多项研究表明，母亲的嗓音在婴儿早期发育中起着重要作用。现在，研究人员发现，大脑本身可能要依靠母亲的嗓音和心跳声进行发育。

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston studied 40 babies born eight to 15 weeks prematurely. Like most severely premature babies, the infants were confined to incubators and spent limited time with their mothers.

波士顿布里格姆妇科医院(Brigham and Women’s Hospital)的研究员们调查了40名早产8至15周的婴儿。和大多数严重早产的婴儿一样，他们被放在恒温箱里，和妈妈在一起的时间很有限。

“Preemies born this early are basically fetuses that happen to be out there by accident,” said Amir Lahav, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and senior author of the study.

“这么早出生的早产儿基本上还是胎儿，他们只是意外出生，”这项研究的高级作者、哈佛大学医学院儿科学助理教授阿米尔·拉哈夫(Amir Lahav)说。

Using tiny speakers placed inside the incubators, half the babies were exposed to the sounds of their mothers’ voices and heartbeats for three extra hours every day. The other half received no additional exposure to such sounds.

研究者在其中一半婴儿的恒温箱里放入小扬声器，播放母亲的嗓音和心跳声，每天播放三个小时。另一半婴儿没有听到这样的声音。

After 30 days, babies in the first group had developed a significantly larger auditory cortex — the hearing center of the brain — than those in the second group. The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help guide doctors and parents caring for premature babies, who often suffer from developmental and cognitive disabilities.

30天后，第一组婴儿的听觉皮层(大脑的听觉中心)明显比第二组婴儿的大。这项研究发表在《国家科学院学报》(Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)上，它能帮助指导医生和父母照顾早产儿。早产儿经常出现发育和认知障碍。