Music Intervention Approaches for Alzheimer’s Disease: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Music interventions have been widely adopted as a potential non-pharmacological therapy for patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) to treat cognitive and/or behavioral symptoms of the disease. In spite of the prevalence of such therapies, evidence for their effectiveness report mixed results in the literature. The purpose of this narrative review is to investigate the effectiveness of various intervention strategies (music therapy vs. music listening techniques) and music type used in the intervention (individualized vs. non-individualized music) on cognitive and behavioral outcomes for persons with AD. Databases were searched for studies using either active music therapy or music listening techniques over the last 10 years. These studies were in English, included persons with AD dementia, and whose protocol gathered pre- and post-intervention outcome measures. We initially identified 206 papers which were then reduced to 167 after removing duplicates. Further review yielded 13 papers which were extensively reviewed, resulting in a final sample of six papers. Our analysis of these papers suggested that, regardless of the music intervention approach, individualized music regimens provided the best outcomes for the patient. Furthermore, music listening may act as a relaxation technique and therefore provide a long-term impact for the patient, while active music therapy may acts to engage participants through social interaction and provide acute benefits. Our findings suggest that music techniques can be utilized in various ways to improve behavior and cognition.

Musical Training Enhances Inhibitory Control in Adolescence

“…This form of therapy is also used in people with brain injury and neurodegenerative disorders [30,31]. Perhaps the common element here is that musical interventions improve inhibitory control which in turn improves behavioral outcomes.…”

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“…In their study, these authors addressed different aspects of verbal memory with and without music, with verbal material from their childhood associated with a music, that is, words that had always been associated with a melody or cantinela. As say Leggieri et al 3 music listening may act as a relaxation technique and therefore provide a long-term impact for the patient.…”

“…In spite of the prevalence of such therapies, evidence for their effectiveness report mixed results in the literature. 3 In this line, Prickett and Moore 4 showed that patients with Alzheimer's can be stimulated through songs that are familiar to them and with constant practice they can even learn new songs, despite not being able to remember recent conversations. In their study, these authors addressed different aspects of verbal memory with and without music, with verbal material from their childhood associated with a music, that is, words that had always been associated with a melody or cantinela.…”

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“…Music listening has the advantage that it does not rely on a trained music therapist. Two recent reviews have looked at the difference between active music therapy and music listening (Leggieri et al, 2019;Tsoi et al, 2018). Both found that music listening could be effective, but it was important that music was individualised.…”

“…Both found that music listening could be effective, but it was important that music was individualised. Familiar music may have more positive effects on people with dementia because it can invoke autobiographical memories (Leggieri et al, 2019). A few studies have looked at the use of MP3 players to provide individualised music but this can be costly and requires support from staff or volunteers (Murphy et al, 2018;Hebert et al, 2018).…”