NOVEMBER 2023
Welcome to Our First Neuroscience in the Nursery Newsletter!
In every issue, we will be bringing you insights into child development from scientists who are doing cutting-edge research that lets us better understand young brains and how we can best support their growth. We’re kicking off with a message from our Chief Scientist and Co-founder, Dr. April Benasich, on an issue of enormous concern to her: the use of white noise as a sleep aid for babies.
White Noise for Children’s Sleep: A Neuroscientist’s Perspective
White noise as a sleep aid for young children is becoming a subject of hot public discussion, and I am truly grateful that parents are more aware of the potential risks of white noise use. However, I am also disturbed by some social media parenting “experts,” who are not neuroscientists, assuring parents – incorrectly – that those risks are not real. Worse, many parents and caregivers are relying on those assurances to determine what to use as part of their children’s sleep routines. They deserve better.
Let me be clear: I am very supportive of the evidence-based parenting movement. I’m a scientist, after all! But, if someone sets themselves up to translate research into recommendations for the parenting public, it is essential that their translation be based on research that is relevant to the issue and that they have sufficient expertise to know what that research means – or seek the help of someone who does.
In the case of white noise, that’s often not happening. Here, the essential issue is how white noise affects the establishment of early language brain networks. That is an important and serious neuroscience question. Unfortunately for parents, some internet pundits are airily dismissing white noise concerns without the appropriate neuroscience background to understand the developmental issue, let alone identify and evaluate the pertinent research papers. Yet, that has not stopped them from making sweeping recommendations to parents supporting the use of white noise with their babies.
In other cases, some of these influencers simply say there is no evidence that white noise impedes language development in children. That is just not true. There are decades of research studies evidencing the critical importance that sound variation (which white noise does not have) plays in the development of early language networks, as well as animal studies demonstrating how white noise exposure delays the development of brain structures important to those networks. Additionally, numerous studies are showing similar effects in human infants who, by circumstance, spend extended periods in non-optimal environments that, like white noise, lack or mask this critical sound variation.
Of course, we do not have and do not conduct longitudinal clinical trials exposing human infants to white noise. It would be unethical to enlist children in studies where we hypothesize that the experiments may delay or permanently impede language development in the “white noise exposure group!” That said, there should, and hopefully will, be retrospective studies examining the language outcomes of children who were raised with white noise vs. those who were not. But those studies may not come for years.
Until then, we must deal with the research we have to date – which strongly suggests that white noise is not a supportive environment for early language development and could potentially interrupt that development. This is particularly relevant for babies born preterm or into families with a history of language learning issues, ADHD, or ASD, all of whom are at higher risk for language delays and thus even more in need of optimally supportive acoustic environments.
I recognize that this news about white noise is a shock to many parents, particularly those who used white noise for their children and are now concerned that it might have caused some ill effects. I would say to them that there are many things that go into building a brain, and we certainly don’t have the research yet to know whether and how much white noise will be a problem for any individual child. So, parents should digest this information in the same way that parents before them used new data on potential harms from lead paint or second-hand smoke or phthalates. You take it in and use it moving forward to make the best decisions you can for your child.
One last research point that is important to this debate and is largely missing in the discussions about white noise: the idea that white noise actually helps sleep is not well-grounded in science. In fact, several recent systematic reviews[1] on the use of white noise as a sleep aid concluded that the evidence that white noise promotes sleep is just not there, meaning parents may be inadvertently subjecting their children to developmental risks from white noise exposure for a sleep benefit they are not really getting.
This leads to my recommendation, and one which I am puzzled is not universally shared: if you want to mask noise, choose one of the many solutions with sound variation – nature sounds, music, womb sounds, etc. – that don’t present the potential developmental risks that white noise does. Or, if the natural environment is not disruptive, stick with that.
As I noted, I’m a strong believer in evidence-based parenting, and I am deeply appreciative of the parenting influencers who have taken the time to talk with us, read our research, ask us questions, and pass on that information to their audiences. For those of you who want to read more, we’ve provided a 6-point summary of the science behind our recommendation at the Read More button below, as well as a more extensive discussion, with the more than 100 citations supporting it, in our white paper accessible at the link on this page. And please pass this email on to anyone you think might benefit from our perspective on white noise.
As always, we at RAPTbaby™ and RAPT Ventures are happy to take any question and engage in any discussion that will help parents and those who seek to advise them to make the most informed decisions possible on behalf of the children in their care.
Very best,
Dr. April Benasich, PhD, FRSA
Co-founder and Chief Scientist, RAPT Ventures, Inc.
Elizabeth H. Solomon Endowed Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
Director, Infancy Studies Laboratory, Center for Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience,
Rutgers University – Newark
1] Riedy SM, Smith MG, Rocha S, Basner M. Noise as a sleep aid: A systematic review. Sleep Med Rev. 2021 Feb;55:101385. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2020.101385. Epub 2020 Sep 9. PMID: 33007706. Capezuti E, Pain K, Alamag E, Chen X, Philibert V, Krieger AC. Systematic review: auditory stimulation and sleep. J Clin Sleep Med. 2022 Jun 1;18(6):1697-1709. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.9860. PMID: 34964434; PMCID: PMC9163611.