THE POWER OF MUSIC
Many people over the age of 65 have trouble understanding what others are saying,
particularly in noisy venues and especially when everyone is talking at once. The
brain's ability to comprehend speech in noisy environments weakens during aging
and reduces the quality of life for older adults. Fortunately, there is hope to offset
this decline in current and future generations.
Dr. Claude Alain and his team are studying whether short-term musical interventions
could help older adults maintain their ability to distinguish speech from background
noise. The work is based on his team's recent findings that musical training during
childhood preserved this brain function in older adults.
Older adults who had formal musical training before the age of 14 and played
a musical instrument during their adulthood performed much better than non-
musicians on tests to identify speech sounds. Those with musical backgrounds
bought themselves 20 years of good hearing skills by enhancing areas of the brain
that support speech recognition. These benefits provided a cognitive boost during
old age, when the brain needs it the most.
"There's been a dramatic shift in the way we think about
hearing problems in older adults and researching cognitive
hearing changes how we treat these issues."
– Dr. Claude Alain
So the next time an older adult expresses concerns about hearing problems, she/
he could be asked to participate in a musical training program to rehabilitate these
issues and help maintain their ability to socialize.
DR. CLAUDE ALAIN
Launching
the first study
combining music
therapy with
brain stimulation
to improve
memory among
patients with
Mild Cognitive
Impairment.
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