Music and Speech Listening Enhance the Recovery of Early Sensory Processing after Stroke

Our surrounding auditory environment has a dramatic influence on the development of basic auditory and cognitive skills, but little is known about how it influences the recovery of these skills after neural damage. Here, we studied the long-term effects of daily music and speech listening on auditory sensory memory after middle cerebral artery (MCA) stroke. In the acute recovery phase, 60 patients who had middle cerebral artery stroke were randomly assigned to a music listening group, an audio book listening group, or a control group. Auditory sensory memory, as indexed by the magnetic MMN (MMNm) response to changes in sound frequency and duration, was measured 1 week (baseline), 3 months, and 6 months after the stroke with whole-head magnetoencephalography recordings. Fifty-four patients completed the study. Results showed that the amplitude of the frequency MMNm increased significantly more in both music and audio book groups than in the control group during the 6-month poststroke p...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: JOCN
• Authors: Teppo Särkämö, Elina Pihko, Sari Laitinen, Anita Forsblom, Seppo Soinila, Mikko Mikkonen, Taina Autti, Heli M. Silvennoinen, Jaakko Erkkilä, Matti Laine, Isabelle Peretz, Marja Hietanen, Mari Tervaniemi
• Keywords: Audio Book, Auditory Sensory Memory, JOCN 2010, Middle Cerebral Artery