From the Guidelines
Music therapy is a valuable adjunct to traditional speech therapy for individuals with aphasia, as it engages undamaged brain regions to support communication recovery, with the most recent and highest quality study 1 supporting early aphasia therapy to maximize language recovery.
Key Points
- Music therapy, such as Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT), can help patients with aphasia access words they struggle to speak normally by activating different neural pathways than regular speech.
- Musical abilities are often preserved after brain injury, as they are processed in multiple brain regions, including the right hemisphere, which can compensate when language areas in the left hemisphere are damaged.
- Sessions typically involve singing familiar songs, rhythmic speaking exercises, and instrument playing to practice communication skills, with regular sessions (2-3 times weekly for several months) showing the best results.
- Music therapy complements traditional speech therapy and can be particularly helpful for patients who have plateaued with conventional approaches, as supported by studies such as 1 and 1.
Recommendations
- Early aphasia therapy, starting within the first 4 weeks post-stroke, should be provided to maximize language recovery 1.
- Intensive aphasia therapy, with at least 45 minutes of direct language therapy for five days a week, may be used in the first few months after stroke 1.
- Speech and language therapy should be provided to improve functional communication, reading comprehension, general expressive language, and written language 1.
- Computerized treatment may be considered to supplement treatment provided by a speech-language pathologist 1.
- Group treatment may be useful across the continuum of care, including the use of community-based aphasia groups 1.
From the Research
Music Therapy for Aphasia
- Music therapy has been shown to be an effective treatment for aphasia, a condition that affects an individual's ability to communicate effectively 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
- Studies have demonstrated that music therapy can improve language function in patients with aphasia, including functional communication, repetition, and naming 3, 5, 6.
- The use of music therapy in combination with speech language therapy (SLT) has been found to be more effective than SLT alone in improving spontaneous speech in patients with chronic aphasia 3.
- Music therapy has also been shown to improve cognitive function and language performance in patients with global aphasia, a severe form of aphasia that affects all aspects of language 2.
- The therapeutic effect of music therapy on aphasia is thought to be due to its ability to stimulate brain areas involved in emotional processing and motor control, such as the fronto-parietal network 4.
Types of Music Therapy
- Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) is a type of music therapy that has been shown to be effective in improving language function in patients with aphasia 2, 5.
- NMT techniques such as therapeutic singing and melodic intonation therapy have been found to be effective in improving language ability in patients with aphasia 5.
- Music therapy based on free-improvisation (relational approach) has also been found to be effective in improving spontaneous speech in patients with chronic aphasia 3.
Benefits of Music Therapy
- Music therapy has been found to improve language function, including functional communication, repetition, and naming, in patients with aphasia 3, 5, 6.
- Music therapy has also been found to improve cognitive function and language performance in patients with global aphasia 2.
- The use of music therapy in combination with SLT has been found to be more effective than SLT alone in improving spontaneous speech in patients with chronic aphasia 3.