Session Information
Date: Thursday, June 23, 2016
Session Title: Parkinson's disease: Clinical trials, pharmacology and treatment
Session Time: 12:00pm-1:30pm
Location: Exhibit Hall located in Hall B, Level 2
Objective: In this study we intend to assess the effect of Mozart piano sonata on Parkinsonian tremor.
Background: The effect of rhythmic auditory stimulation and music has long been studied on gait problems, freezing and cognitive symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Methods: This is a prospective before-and-after pilot study, evaluating patients presenting to our clinic who were diagnosed as PD (according to the Queen Square brain bank criteria)and were under L-Dopa therapy. There was no changes in drug regimens during the study. Patients were evaluated using UPDRS and Hoehn and Yahr scales at the baseline, during listening to the music (Mozart 2 Piano Sonata K. 448) and after 4 weeks of listening to the same music for 1 hour per day. Amplitude (peak to peak), energy and frequency of tremor were assessed using a mobile based accelerometer on the same time points recording on the most affected hand.
Results: Thirteen patients (10 (76.9%) males) were analyzed at the baseline among these 3 did not returned for a second visit. Trend analyses using repeated measurement tests performed on accelerometer data showed no significant change in energy or amplitude on either X, Y or Z axes, however, significant results were seen while evaluating the trend of tremor frequency on X (Muchy test significance: 0.17, mean square: 0.20, f=3.39, p=0.03) and Y (Muchly’s test significance: 0.89, mean square: 0.16, f=3.48, p=0.02) axes but not on Z axis. Pairwise comparison showed significant difference between first and second records (baseline vs immediate after music records) (mean difference: 0.35 (95% CI: 0.03 – 0.67, p=0.02) on X axis. Hoehn and Yahr scale and UPDRS yielded no significant results on trend analyses.
Conclusions: This pilot study indicates that Mozart’s music might have an effect on frequency of Parkinsonian tremor; however we could not find any other significant relationships between variables probably due to small sample size.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
A. Shoeybi, N. Olfati. The effect of Mozart piano sonata on Parkinsonian tremor, rigidity and bradykinesia [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2016; 31 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-effect-of-mozart-piano-sonata-on-parkinsonian-tremor-rigidity-and-bradykinesia/. Accessed October 23, 2026.« Back to 2016 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-effect-of-mozart-piano-sonata-on-parkinsonian-tremor-rigidity-and-bradykinesia/