Singing Helps Recover Speech After Stroke

Study finds that singing helps restore speech abilities in stroke-induced aphasia.

Singing helps rehabilitate speech production in individuals with post-stroke aphasia, a condition affecting 40% of stroke survivors as per a study at the University of Helsinki, published in the eNeuro journal ().

Researchers previously found that sung music helps the language recovery of stroke patients. Now, the researchers have uncovered the reason for the rehabilitative effect of singing.

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According to the findings, singing, as it were, repairs the structural language network of the brain. The language network processes language and speech in our brains. In patients with aphasia, the network has been damaged.

“For the first time, our findings demonstrate that the rehabilitation of patients with aphasia through singing is based on neuroplasticity changes, that is, the plasticity of the brain,” says University Researcher Aleksi Sihvonen from the University of Helsinki.

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The language network encompasses the cortical regions of the brain involved in the processing of language and speech, as well as the white matter tracts that convey information between the different endpoints of the cortex.

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According to the study results, singing increased the volume of grey matter in the language regions of the left frontal lobe and improved tract connectivity, especially in the language network of the left hemisphere, but also in the right hemisphere.

“These positive changes were associated with patients’ improved speech production,” Sihvonen says.

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A total of 54 aphasia patients participated in the study, of whom 28 underwent MRI scans at the beginning and end of the study. The researchers investigated the rehabilitative effect of singing with the help of choir singing, music therapy, and singing exercises at home.

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Aphasia has a wide-ranging effect on the functional capacity and quality of life of affected individuals and easily leads to social isolation.

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According to Sihvonen, singing can be seen as a cost-effective addition to conventional forms of rehabilitation, or as rehabilitation for mild speech disorders in cases where access to other types of rehabilitation is limited.

“Patients can also sing with their family members, and singing can be organized in healthcare units as a group-based, cost-efficient rehabilitation,” Sihvonen says.

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