Latest news and publications

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 starting in November. This is free to

stroke survivors and will provide a clinical placement for our music therapy trainees at Anglia

Ruskin University. Exercises for movement, speech and cognition will also help with mood,

socialisation and quality of life. Funding will be required to make this sustainable and we will develop fund raising programs that will include public performances and events. These will promote an understanding amongst the public and healthcare commissioners of the long-term social care needs and investment required to help stroke survivors recover. The benefits of music-based interventions will also gain recognition.

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.

The latest medical and therapeutic developments to manage stroke symptoms and recovery were discussed at Hinchingbrooke, including challenges of conducting stroke research, when and what to prescribe to prevent second strokes, aphasia assessment tools for 'internal speech dialogue' as part of recovery and music-based interventions using tablet-based touchscreen instruments for arm hemiparesis - thanks to North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust (Carla Thompson) for organising this and all of the other 'Meet the Researchers' events across the country - click here for 'Future research events.' Blow is a picture of Dr Nicolas Evans from Addenbrooke's trying some touchscreen exercises.

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.

The ocarina is a popular instrument in Brazil and simple to play. A team of researchers have built an electronic version that will have the capability to electronically measure the user's breath velocity, pressure and duration. Intended users are people with Chronic, Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), but it could also help people with stroke and other neurorehabilitation populations recover breath control and speech. Mouth pieces are removable, enabling effective infection control. Let's see how they continue to develop the instrument:

Dedicated low-cost electronic ocarina for people with COPD: Rationale and prototype development

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/08098131.2024.2410043?needAccess=true

 At the Society for Research in Rehabilitation hosted at the University of Essex on 15th January we presented a poster of our upper limb rehabilitation EEG study, sharing progress. Stroke survivors have received 15 sessions in their home in three-weeks, a treatment dosage for these home-based exercises that has not been delivered previously anywhere in the world. This image shows

a participant completing bilateral finger dexterity exercises.

Below is a video that shows the stages through which it is possible to configure Touchscreen guitar chords for alternating thumb strumming up or down the screen, or holding a stylus to practice pinch grip. The sound quality is excellent when connected to an external speaker, such as the JBL Charge 4 or 5.

We published results from the first biomedical music therapy feasibility study in the UK in 2017, which also included these iPad exercises.

Home-based neurologic music therapy for arm hemiparesis following stroke: results from a pilot, feasibility randomized controlled trial

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0269215517717060

Protocol details are here:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26441586/

CONFERENCES

Coming up in November, I will be presenting findings from our EEG upper limb study and music listening for fatigue PPIE at the UK Stroke Forum.

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