Latest news and publications

25-27th November at the UK Stroke Forum I presented our Music Listening for Fatigue literature review with patient involvement (see article link below), and preliminary findings from our EEG arm and hand rehabilitation study.

Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board awarded us (Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research)  over £7,000 to conduct patient involvement work with brain injury survivors. We have held the first session with 9 participants who talked about their experience of fatigue as inpatients. The consensus was that more information and support for managing it is required. Some spoke of using meditation and music listening to help. The next two out of five meetings will be in January 2026, firstly meeting online to discuss how preferred energising music could be identified, compiled and delivered on a subacute ward, then we will meet face-to-face and test some procedures, playlists and equipment at Anglia Ruskin University.  

Full article: Music listening for fatigue after acquired brain injury: A scoping review project with patient, carer and public involvement (PCPI) data Please read this latest article, written with colleagues at the Colman Hospital, Norwich, with input from service users on the subacute  stroke ward, caregivers and staff. We are in the process of applying for research funding to try compiling and delivering playlists for patients on the ward to see if they can use them daily over several weeks. We will try recording engagement in physiotherapy with and without the playlists being delivered 20-30 prior. Another innovation, is recording participants' baseline heart rate and heart rate variability and matching the first track in the playlist to this in terms of its tempo, complexity, etc - this equates to the arousal level of the track and where it sits on an arousal valence. Music is mapped onto this valence using an algorithm developed by X-System.

Music Therapy for Stroke Rehabilitation Friday Clinic at Young Street, Anglia Ruskin University. We ran three Fridays in November and saw six brain injury survivors, delivering 12 sessions, including an amusia assessment. Mood data indicates that for some fatigue was less after the session, which involved an hour of arm and hand exercises! The clinic starts in full on 16th January 2026.

David Cox published this article on the benefits of singing:

Why singing is surprisingly good for your health - BBC Future for which I made a small contribution, including citing something from the evidence base: "Singing is a cognitive, physical, emotional and social act."

Our recovering musicians group is progressing and growing, meeting every two-weeks. Through open discussions between members themes have

emerged on psychological recovery and coming to terms with the emotional impact for musicians who have had a stroke. Pacing their approach to playing again and developing exercises at appropriate levels has become more in focus, and this runs in parallel with creating opportunities to play music with others and shift attention to the quality of the sound rather than being over focused on dexterity and accuracy. This can result in a balanced approach that addresses emotional impact, cognitive and motor recovery, and makes playing music rewarding again. Rather than dreading taking up their instrument, they can look forward to it.      

Contact me if this recovering musicians with stroke group is of interest: alex.street@aru.ac.uk  We will secure funding to develop this into a project bringing benefits to many musicians who want to get back to making music, with guidelines for rehabilitation practitioners on how to support musicians.

Other articles

Music listening for psychological well-being in adults with acquired vision impairment: a feasibility randomised controlled trial

The study shows enough feasibility to ensure recruitment, retention and data collection, and data indicate potential benefits for managing anxiety and depression with this home-based music intervention. Read it here

Our article 'The Art and Craft of Music Therapy for Stroke Rehabilitation in a Remote North Indian Community: A Case Study' has gained some interest https://voices.no/index.php/voices/article/view/3724. In the article the music therapists discovered the music that was important to the client and this helped them engage and benefit. There is a need for more research into all aspects of neurorehabilitation that provides access where needed to clients' culture specific music preferences, whether for listening to improve mood and cognitive recovery, or to provide temporal frameworks to facilitate sensorimotor exercises and cognitive training. The Garageband app is not a rehabilitation app but touchscreen instruments can be adapted for arm and hand exercises, and there are several instruments from China, Japan, Java and West Africa. I would be very interested in supporting researchers from anywhere in the world in discovering how music from their cultures can be accessed and developed to help increase access to music therapy.

PUBLICATIONS AND BROADCASTS

August 2024: Preferred music listening for people living with dementia: Two home-based case studies discussing compilation process, autobiographical and biophysical responses. In the journal 'Geriatric Nursing.'

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gerinurse.2024.07.022

BBC World Service: People Fixing the World featuring two participants & Dr Alex Street from the RadioMe for dementia study:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0hm9q83 (listen from about 8-minutes)

What might an interactive music therapy service bring to the adult intensive care unit? A suggested service based on data from a scoping review

https://doi.org/10.1177/13594575241235126