Neonate Response: The Effect of Infant State and Auditory Stimuli

Abstract

The total number, strength, and type of responses elicited from 225 newborn infants under controlled conditions of infant and state and auditory stimuli were compared. Infants in light sleep appeared more conducive to response to auditory stimuli than those in deep sleep or awake and quiet. The broad band of white noise was without question the optimal stimulus for eliciting neonatal responses. However, caution in its use is urged as the false pass rate for broad band remains questionable. A multi-stimuli approach utilizing broad band initially to minimize false negative responses followed by a narrow band or warbled pure tone to eliminate false positives are suggested and discussed.