Principal Investigador Eduarda Carvalho (FNL, CESEM)
Co-investigador: Filipa M.B. Lã (Facultad de Educación, Laboratorio de Voz, Música y Lenguaje, UNED)
Abstract
Maternal singing has its origins as an ancestral practice with adaptive and protective value for the family offspring. Singing to the baby from its intrauterine development has been identified in the literature as an experience that promotes the development of the mother’s emotional bond with the baby. However, the processes by which maternal singing and vocal quality may contribute to the development of the perinatal bond are still unknown. It is also unknown whether prenatal singing impacts foetal and newborn behaviour. The main aim of this exploratory study was to promote women’s health and well-being during pregnancy, as well as perinatal bonding by proposing a group experience mediated by pre-natal singing. This project intended to strengthen innovation in the health and the community sector, as a response to the Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3) reported as a 2030’s target.
Implementation period
2023-2025
Acronim
SingingWomb
Reference
2022.01750.PTDC
Total funding
48.693,90 €
Funding institution
Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), I.P.
Start funding date
01/01/2023
End funding date
31/01/2025
Keywords
Pregnancy; Well-being; Perinatal Bond; Prenatal Singing
Methodology
While listening to music during pregnancy has been associated with a better neonatal neuronal maturation, but still being unknown the contributions of prenatal singing to neonatal behaviour, as well as not being understood the contributions of the acoustic propagation of the maternal humming inside the womb on foetal and neonatal neuronal maturation, a set of 22 low obstetric risk pregnant women were sequentially allocated into three groups: 1) vocal training group (VTG), with specifically designed exercises to develop the phono-respiratory coordination and the vocal resonances propagated subglottically, or, in other words, by the vibrations of the maternal body tissues closer to the foetus; 2) music therapy group (MTG), having the foetus as the focus of singing; and 3) control group (CG) without any prenatal singing. A multidisciplinary analysis was made by applying the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS) and the Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale (MAAS), and a protocol session to collect and record accelerometric (ACC), audio (close range and at 30 cm), cardiotocographic (CTG), electrodermic (EDA) and electrolaryngographic (ELG) data at 32 and 37 gestational weeks (GW). The session’s protocol consisted of performing a set of varied tasks: reading a tale, humming, vocal toning, singing a lullaby and free communication with the foetus. During the period between the 32 and the 37 GW it was performed a bi-daily collection of saliva to register the cortisol levels, as well as, to the VTG participants, a daily set of exercises specifically designed for them to perform autonomously.
During this same period there was also a group session per week for each of the groups 1 and 2. One or two weeks after birth the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS), Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale (MAAS) and Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale (NBAS) were applied.
Preliminary results
In this study, while being exploratory, the results suggest that the pregnant women who experienced prenatal singing with vocal exercises designed to achieve a type of phonation with an increased subglottic resonance, developed changes in their phonation type towards this goal. This increase of subglottic resonance seams to result in a timbre that may be understood by the mothers as a richer vibroacoustic experience that better connects them with their foetus. This result explains, therefore, the strong positive correlation found between the maternal timbre and the maternal-foetal bond, while though this bond has had a bigger increase, according to the MAAS scale, in the group that experienced the music therapy sessions, the MTG. In this last group, a more intimist voice directed to the “imaginary baby” led the mothers to a diminish in their subglottic sound intensity, explaining the negative correlation found for this group between maternal-foetal bond and the subglottic sound intensity. While without any significant differences between groups neither pre- nor post-intervention, by the EADS scale it was observed an increase of the anxiety and stress levels for the VTG participants, possibly related to an increase in self-awareness of what would be a good voice quality for a better bonding with the foetus. In an opposite direction, it was observed a decrease of the same levels for the MTG and the CG. As for the depression levels, it was observed a decrease for both VTG and MTG participants, with a more pronounced decrease noticed in the last group.
While not being observed significant differences between the groups for the cardiac variability of the foetus, neither pre- and nor post-intervention, it was observed a bigger cardiac variation of the foetus of the VTG and MTG during the maternal voice exposition periods comparatively to the silence periods. For the foetus of the VTG was observed as being more responsive to the maternal singing (humming, vocal toning and singing a lullaby) and the free communication with the foetus periods, while for the MTG was observed a bigger responsivity during the reading of the tale and the maternal singing periods.
The newborns of VTG and MTG, while without any significant differences between them, shown higher values of the amplitude of scale states of the NBAS comparatively to the CG.
| PARTNERSHIPS |
| Maternidade Dr. Alfredo da Costa UNED VoiceLab (Laboratorio de Voz, Música y Lenguaje – UNED) (Espanha) |
| TEAM |
| Eduarda Carvalho | Filipa M.B. Lã |
| TEAM |
| Alexandra Queirós | João Justo | Magda Sofia Roberto | Cláudia Quaresma |
| GRANTS |
| Inês Garcia | Margarida Botelho | Ricardo Panela |
| RESEARCH GROUP |
| Educação e Desenvolvimento Humano |
“Saúde da mulher, bem-estar na gravidez e vínculo perinatal: contributos do canto pré-natal (SingingWomb)” (2022.01750.PTDC) was funded by FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC)
