The vibrational Stark effect (VSE) spectra of the CN stretching band of 9-cyanoanthracene dispersed in a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) film were measured under electric fields of 1.27-1.82 MV/cm at 77K using the difference FT-IR method and a cell with a BaF2/Al/9-cyanoanthracene (10 mol%):PMMA/Al structure. The changes in the electric dipole moment between the ground and the first excited states of the CN stretching mode were 0.0299 +/- 0.0003 D/f, where f is a local field correction factor. This novel polymer matrix method will be useful for measuring the VSE of low molecular weight compounds. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.