Michigan music therapist records young patients’ heartbeats

Bridget Sova, music therapist at the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, sings to Aubrey Spearman inside the infant’s room at the hospital in Grand Rapids, Mich. Sova records the heartbeats of young patients and sets the sounds to music as a memory-making gift for parents and other loved ones.

A music therapist at a Michigan children’s hospital has made dozens of unique recordings as a gift for patients’ parents and other loved ones.

Bridget Sova uses a specialized stethoscope recorder to capture the thumping, rhythmic heartbeats of young patients then blends them with a recording of her playing guitar or singing a tune of the family’s choosing. Sova, 24, says it’s a way to ensure the heartbeats live on, regardless of what happens to the child.

Sova says she has made 60 to 70 heartbeat recordings during her year at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids. She has paired heartbeats with everything from traditional lullabies to songs by pop stars Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus. One family even requested the theme song from the classic boxing film “Rocky.”

“I don’t change the heartbeat. I change the song to fit the heartbeat,” Sova says. “And so that way the song is unique to them and to their son or daughter, brother or sister.”