Review Article

[Retracted] Potential Benefits of Music Therapy on Stroke Rehabilitation

Table 1

The application of melodic intonation therapy (MIT) in aphasia poststroke.

ParticipantsIntervention of MITEvaluationFindingsReferences

The intervention group (; 16 males, 4 females) and the control group (; 15 males, 5 females)Intervention group receives MIT treatment for 30 min/day, five times a week for 8 weeksBoston diagnostic aphasia examination, Hamilton anxiety scale, and Hamilton depression scaleMIT has a better effect in fluency, spontaneous naming, object naming, reaction naming, and sentence completing, with a time accumulation effect[82]

A 63-year-old man, 10 years poststroke, presented with a mild to moderate nonfluent aphasiaReceives MIT treatment 50 min twice weekly and attends a 4 hr socialization program once per weekApraxia battery for adults, and Boston diagnostic aphasia evaluationIntegration of MIT by adding musical elements improves speech and expressive language skills, combined with a group socialization program[104]

20 stroke patients with poststroke nonfluent aphasiaReceives MIT treatment for 12 sessions over six weeksCommunicative activity log questionnaire, Boston diagnostic aphasia examinationMIT may have a beneficial effect on the communication skills of stroke patients with nonfluent aphasia[84]

17 patients with chronic (>1 year) poststroke aphasia. 10 in the MIT group and 7 in the control groupReceives 6 weeks intensive MIT (5 h/week)Aachen aphasia test, Amsterdam-Nijmegen everyday language test, and Sabadel story retell taskMIT shows limited and temporary effect, suggesting that MIT exerts better effect for chronic aphasia in earlier stages poststroke[105]

Six patients with severe nonfluent aphasia poststrokeReceives melodic-rhythmic therapy (a modified MIT) treatment 4 days a week for 16 weeks, with sessions of 30-40 minAachen aphasia testMIT significantly improves the ability of spontaneous speech[85]

Three participants with chronic poststroke Broca’s aphasiaReceives MIT treatment in hourly sessions, 3 days per week for 6 weeksPercent correct information units in connected speech, number of correct syllables in the trained and nontrained sentences, and visual analog mood scalesCombination of rhythm and pitch induces the strongest generalization effect to nontrained stimuli and connected speech. No significant effect in motor-speech agility or mood[106]

Two patients with nonfluent aphasia poststrokerTMS therapy (consisted of 3 treatment sessions) followed by 40 min of MITWestern aphasia battery, fMRIOne patient has improvement in verbal fluency and repetition of phrases, while the other patient has no significant improvement. Neural activity changes are observed in the left Broca’s area and right Broca’s homolog[107]

27 participants with subacute severe nonfluent aphasia poststrokeReceives MIT treatment in hourly sessions, 5 h per week for 6 weeksAachen aphasia test, semantic association taskMIT treatment has an improvement in verbal communication and language repetition[108]

A patient with severe nonfluent aphasia poststrokeReceives intensive adapted MIT, attending five, 1.5-hour treatment sessions per week for 16 weeksfMRI, DTI, and speech and language tasksMIT induces functional and structural changes in a right hemisphere fronto-temporal network[109]

30 acute stroke patients with nonfluent aphasia, 14 in the control group, and 16 in the treatment groupReceives a 10 to 15 min MIT sessionWestern aphasia batterySignificant immediate improvements in speech output after one session of MMIT training[110]
Six patients with nonfluent aphasia at least 1 year postonset of first ischemic strokeTreatment sessions are administered one per day for 3 consecutive days. The stimulation period of tDCS lasts for 20 min and combines with 20 min MITBoston diagnostic aphasia examination, verbal fluency testsTranscranial direct current stimulation plus MIT contributes to significant improvements in fluency of speech, by enhancing activity in a right hemisphere sensorimotor network for articulation[111]

Six patients with nonfluent aphasia at least 1 year postonset of first left hemisphere strokeReceives an intense fashion with 75–80 daily therapy sessionsMRI and DTI; behavioral tests include number of correct information units/min produced during spontaneous speech, picture descriptions, and descriptions of common proceduresMTI increases the number of arcuate fasciculus fibers and arcuate fasciculus volume and improves the speech outcome[112]