Therapeutic benefits of music for three types of neurological disorders: an fNIRS study protocol for controlled trial in Dalian, China, Part 1 – Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

Background: Music therapy improves neuronal activity and connectivity of healthy persons and patients with clinical symptoms of neurological diseases like Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Major Depression. Despite the plethora of publications that have reported the positive effects of music interventions, little is known about how music improves neuronal activity and connectivity in afflicted patients. In this three-part series of studies, each of the three neurological disorders – (1) Parkinson’s Disease, (2) Alzheimer’s Disease, and (3) Major Depression – will be treated individually in detail. Methods: For patients suffering from Parkinson’s Disease (PD), we propose a daily 25-minute music-based synchronous finger tapping (SFT) intervention for 8-weeks. Participants will be each split into two groups: an intervention group and a control arm. Assessment of finger tapping performances, the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), an n-back test, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), as well as oxygenated- (HbO 2 ), deoxygenated- hemoglobin (HbR), and total hemoglobin activation collected by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) will be measured at baseline, week 4 (during), week 8 (post), and week 12 (retention) of the study. Data collected from the two PD groups will be compared to baseline performances from healthy controls.Discussion: The trial study investigates the cortical neuronal activity and therapeutic effects associated with an auditory external cue used to induce automatic and implicit synchronous finger tapping in patients diagnosed with PD. The extent to which the intervention is effective may be dependent on the severity of the disease.