Premature Babies Benefitting from Music Get Backing From Harvard University and The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation. A new study performed by The Institute for Music and Brain Science at Harvard University on the physiological benefits of music on premature babies has received substantial backing from science activist, Jeffrey Epstein and his foundation, The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation. The study was conducted with the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Every year about 4 million babies (12.5%) in the US are born prematurely. Premature babies account for two thirds of infant deaths and the rates are increasing. The study looked at how vocal music can decrease pain and stress by analyzing autonomic and motor responses in 13 premature infants at the Massachusetts General Hospital Neonatal Special Care Unit. Using a case-control clinical trial design, the effect of blood test punctures on heart rate and respiratory rate was evaluated. Seven neonates then received auditory stimulation within 115 seconds after pain onset and six neonates were not stimulated. The punctures caused protracted increases in both heart and respiratory rates in all babies. Premature infants stimulated with vocal music after pain onset however, showed a greater decrease in heart rate over time (12% over 10 minutes) than unstimulated infants. Auditory stimulation had no significant effect on respiratory rates. The results, though seemingly insignificant, suggest that auditory stimulation ameliorates pain and stress in premature infants via connections between the central auditory system and brainstem systems modulating autonomic outflow to the heart. This is particularly significant when one considers that many neonates are given multiple punctures every day for blood and other procedures. "More vocal and sound studies need to be done to augment the decrease in stress and pain for prematurely born babies," Jeffrey Epstein a