Music for preemies

A special kind of music for prematurely born babies

Geneva, Switzerland: At the request of Prof.Dr. Petra Hueppi of the Geneva University Hospital, who is leading a research group which is focussing on the neurological development of premature babies, Andreas Vollenweider has developed a music with a special purpose: to counteract the enormous stress to which prematurely born children (some as early as the 24th week) are exposed and which can have a negative impact on their development, especially that of the brain. In response to this stress, the children block themselves against any external stimuli, which would, however, be crucial for the development of the brain. As a result, many of these children later suffer from cognitive, emotional and social deficits.

Vollenweider’s soundtrack shows the desired effect

The task of Vollenweider's sound application was therefore, first of all, to induce deep relaxation in order to support the openness to accept external stimuli. Since the beginning of the project, numerous children and parents have already benefited from this study. In a double-blind study, it could be verified that Vollenweider's "soundtrack" apparently has the hoped-for effect and enables significant improvements in brain development.

Research commission and study

The project is a research commission of the Swiss National Science Foundation. The results of the study have been published by the National Academy of Science of the United States and the scientific publisher Elsevier, among others. Download the paper on Elsevier: 

Download PDF here

The "National Geographic Magazine" declared the project one of "12 innovations that will revolutionise the future of medicine”. 

Read the Article here

The project is entering the next phase

The work on the project in being continued to further develop the application. But it will take some time before we can offer something for the general use again.
As we know that some children would already benefit from the first versions of the application, we offer them here in 2 qualities for download (wav or mp3).

You would like to use the audio applications for your child?

1. you need the smallest possible headphones, if possible closed, i.e. they enclose the ears in such a way that as little noise as possible penetrates from the outside.

2. to play the sound, it is best to use a small MP3 player. These are available for a very small price. The player is then only for the baby and everything remains set correctly. I do not recommend using a smartphone!

3. you must always test the volume, it should be a gentle sound experience for very sensitive ears.

4. there are 3 sound applications:
1 sleep2wakeup
2 awake
3 awake2sleep

Download Music here

If the child is breathing calmly, it is perhaps even asleep, start the player with audio application 1 (sleep2wakeup). If the child is awake, select #2. If you want the child to sleep afterwards, select #3.

You have to try this out a bit by feel

Our tests were done 3 times, over the course of the day.

I wish you much success… Andreas