STROKE PATIENTS HELPED BY MUSIC
By Jane Kirby, PA Health Correspondent
Guardian, 20th February 2008
Listening to music following a stroke can help patients recover, research suggested today.
Progress in verbal memory and attention to performing mental tasks were found in
patients who listened to music of their choice for a few hours a day.
A total of 60 patients were recruited for the study, published in the journal Brain, soon
after they were admitted to hospital.
All patients had suffered a stroke of the left or right hemisphere middle cerebral artery
and many were left with problems moving or with cognitive process, like attention and
memory.
They were randomly assigned to a music group, a language group, or a control group.
During the following two months, the music and language groups listened every day to
music or audio books respectively, while the control group received no listening material.
In addition, all patients were given standard medical care and underwent standard
rehabilitation.
During the study and afterwards, they underwent extensive assessment, including
cognitive tests as well as questionnaires on their mood and quality of life.
The patients were tested at one week, three months, and six months after their stroke,
with 54 patients completing the study.
Teppo Sarkamo, a PhD student at the Department of Psychology at the University of
Helsinki, was lead author on the study.
He said: "We found that three months after the stroke, verbal memory improved from the
first week post-stroke by 60% in music listeners, by 18% in audio book listeners and by
29% in non-listeners.
"Similarly, focused attention - the ability to control and perform mental operations and
resolve conflicts among responses - improved by 17% in music listeners, but no
improvement was observed in audio book listeners and non-listeners. These differences
were still essentially the same six months after the stroke."
He said those listening to music were also less depressed and confused.
"These differences in cognitive recovery can be directly attributed to the effect of
listening to music," he said.
"Furthermore, the fact that most of the music (63%) also contained lyrics would suggest
that it is the musical component (or the combination of music and voice) that plays a
crucial role in the patients' improved recovery."
The study also included experts from the University of Montreal and Abo Akademi
University in Finland.
They concluded in the paper: "Results showed that recovery in the domains of verbal
memory and focused attention improved significantly more in the music group than in the
language and control groups.
"The music group also experienced less depressed and confused mood than the control
group.
"These findings demonstrate for the first time that music listening during the early poststroke stage can enhance cognitive recovery and prevent negative mood.
"We suggest that everyday music listening during early stroke recovery offers a valuable
addition to the patients' care, especially if other active forms of rehabilitation are not yet
feasible at this stage, by providing an individually targeted, easy-to-conduct and
inexpensive means to facilitate cognitive and emotional recovery."
Mr Sarkamo said further studies were needed to replicate the findings.
He added: "Since the result is based on a group study, I would also caution people not to
interpret it as evidence that music listening works for every individual patient.
"Rather than an alternative, music listening should be considered as an addition to other
active forms of therapy, such as speech therapy or neuropsychological rehabilitation."
In the research paper, suggestions are put forward as to why music can help stroke
patients recover.
These include stimulating the part of the nervous system that is implicated in feelings of
pleasure, motivation and memory, and stimulating general mechanisms related to "brain
plasticity" - the ability of the brain to repair after damage.
Mr Sarkamo said: "Other research has shown that during the first weeks and months after
stroke, the patients typically spend about three-quarters of their time each day in nontherapeutic activities, mostly in their rooms, inactive and without interaction, even
although this time-window is ideal for rehabilitative training from the point of view of
brain plasticity.
"Our research shows for the first time that listening to music during this
crucial period can enhance cognitive recovery and prevent negative mood, and it has the
advantage that it is cheap and easy to organise."
Dr Isabel Lee, research liaison officer at The Stroke Association, said: "This promising
research is welcomed by The Stroke Association as it provides an interesting indication
of the positive effects listening to music can have on a stroke survivor's recovery and the
potential for its future use in the rehabilitation process.
"However further research into the effect of music on stroke patients needs to be
undertaken before any widespread use, as presently the mechanisms of any effect remain
unclear."