Music Mends the Ravaged Mind
In a new study out of the University of Helsinki, Music therapy was proven an effective aid in recovery from the effects of stroke. A group of 60 patients who had suffered strokes and who were under age 75 were each assigned to one of three test groups at random. The first group received the usual treatment. The second group, in addition to the usual treatment, listened to recordings of audio books. The third group listened to music.
Testing after three months showed the verbal memory of the music-listeners increased by 60% while those of the audio book listeners increased only 18% and the control group by 29%. There was no explanation mentioned for why the audio book group should fare worse than the control group, but the fact that the music listeners did much better than the control is certainly encouraging. The music group also showed a 17% improvement when tested for their ability to focus attention, while the other two groups showed no change.
The subjects were allowed to choose which type of music they listened to; it would be interesting to know if the type of music they chose had different levels of effectiveness. My bet is that Classical was more effective than the Sinatra fans. I doubt any of the group was listening to Rap — no doubt that would set them back.