How To Improve Language Recovery In Stroke Patients?

Listening to music daily can improve the language recovery in stroke patients but the neural mechanisms underlying the phenomenon have so far remained unknown.

A new study by the University of Helsinki and the Turku University Hospital Neurocenter 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.

‘Vocal music supports the recovery of language functions in stroke and mild speech disorder patients.’

They also investigated the links between such changes and language recovery during a three-month follow-up period. The study is published in the eNeuro journal.

According to the study findings, listening to vocal music can improve the recovery of language network connectivity in the left frontal lobe compared to listening to audiobooks. These structural changes are 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," says Postdoctoral Researcher Aleksi Sihvonen.

The language impairment resulting from a stroke known as aphasia, causes considerable suffering to patients recovering from stroke and their families.

Though current therapies help reduce language impairments, the results vary and the necessary rehabilitation is not available sufficiently and early.

Listening to music supports other rehabilitation in stroke patients and patients with mild speech disorders as a cost-efficient boost to normal rehabilitation.

The goal of conventional and other rehabilitation methods is to stimulate the brain and recover after a cerebral circulation disturbance.

Spending a lot of time in hospital is not stimulating for the brain. Listening to music at these circumstances can serve as an additional and sensible rehabilitation measure that positively affects recovery and improves the prognosis.



Source: Medindia