Research has shown that listening to music with singing daily aids language recovery in stroke patients. However, the neural mechanisms behind the phenomenon have remained unknown thus far.
Researchers at the University of Helsinki and the Turku University Hospital Neurocentre compared the effect of listening to vocal music, instrumental music and audiobooks on the structural and functional recovery of the language network of patients who had suffered an acute stroke. The study also investigated the links between such changes and language recovery during a three-month follow-up period.
The results showed that listening to vocal music improved the recovery of the structural connectivity of the language network in the left frontal lobe compared to listening to audiobooks. These structural changes correlated with the recovery of language skills.
“For the first time, we were able to demonstrate that the positive effects of vocal music are related to the structural and functional plasticity of the language network. This expands our understanding of the mechanisms of action of music-based neurological rehabilitation methods,” said Postdoctoral Researcher Aleksi Sihvonen.
Aphasia, a language impairment resulting from a stroke, is a source of considerable suffering for patients and their families. Current therapies aid the rehabilitation of language impairments, but the results are variable and the necessary rehabilitation is often not sufficiently available and early enough.
“Listening to vocal music can be considered a measure that enhances conventional forms of rehabilitation in healthcare. Such activity can be easily, safely and efficiently arranged even in the early stages of rehabilitation,” Sihvonen said.
According to Sihvonen, listening to music could inexpensively boost normal rehabilitation, or be an option for rehabilitating patients with mild speech disorders when other rehabilitation options are scarce.
After a disturbance of the cerebral circulation, the brain needs stimulation to make as good a recovery as possible. Conventional rehabilitation methods aim to provide this as well.
“Unfortunately, a lot of the time spent in hospital is not stimulating. At these times, listening to music could serve as an additional and sensible rehabilitation measure that can have a positive effect on recovery, improving the prognosis,” Sihvonen added.
Source: University of Helsinki
Journal information: Sihvonen, A.J., et al. (2021) Vocal Music Listening Enhances Poststroke Language Network Reorganization. eNeuro. doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0158-21.2021.
