Music Therapy for Stroke Victims

Music therapy may help patients with impaired speech after stroke to communicate.
The Wall Street Journal (2/22, Wang) reports that at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, researchers reported that a treatment called melodic intonation therapy may help teach patients with impaired speech after a stroke to communicate. Patients learn to sing words while tapping a rhythm with their hands, and ultimately change their singing into speech.
The AP (2/21, Schmid) reported that the researchers said, "Music making is a multisensory experience, activating links to several parts of the brain." Nina Kraus, director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University, "reported that new studies show that musical training enhances the brain's ability to do other things," such as "detecting patterns in sounds."