Developed in 2000 by Dr. Jayne M. Standley along with the Center for Music Research at Florida State University, the PAL is used during music therapy interventions in the neonatal intensive-care unit to promote and reinforce non-nutritive sucking (NNS) opportunities on premature infants.
[1] The sensors in the PAL detect correct non-nutritive sucking characteristics and activate a CD player which reproduces lullabies through small speakers placed binaurally in the incubator above the infant's head.
Provisions are made in the protocol to discontinue the intervention if signs of infant distress are observed.
Studies have shown that contingent music, such as pacifier activated lullabies, increased pacifier sucking rate of premature infants more than 2.5 times (Standley 2000), and that they have also increased subsequent feeding rates.
[5] Recent research observed that a PAL intervention can significantly reduce gavage feeding days and the length of hospitalization for premature infants when used at the specific gestation age of 34 weeks.