Objective: To evaluate the underlying mechanisms for motor rehabilitation in acoustic cueing and sound therapies with a specific focus on patterns of auditory salience.

Background: Auditory salience is the degree to which a sound stands out compared to surrounding sounds. It is well known that a regular beat induced by periodic fluctuations of salience can improve gait, speech, and gestures in populations where general motor abilities are impaired, such as, Parkinson’s disease (PD) and basal ganglia lesions after stroke. In contrast, the mechanisms by which acoustic features of sound elicit the perception of salience and motor responses are poorly understood. Moreover, beat-based therapies are not always successful. We propose that auditory salience is the driving force behind the success of beat-based therapies and that the success rate of said therapies can be increased through an understanding of how an individual perceives salience.

Methods: We conduct a basic research experiment on healthy participants to ascertain how salience is perceived when listening to auditory sequences and how motor responses are elicited when increases in salience are perceived. Participants listen to auditory sequences and rate the perceived salience in real time and sEMG is simultaneously recorded on the non-preferred arm. Cross-correlational analyses are performed between the perceived salience ratings and the sEMG data, and also between these dependent variables and the acoustic properties of the stimuli, such as, intensity, frequency, and spectral flux.

Results: We hold the strong hypothesis that perceived salience positively correlates with acoustic factors (particularly intensity and spectral flux) and that increases in perceived salience evoke a motor response. Data collection remains in progress.

Conclusions: We will present data that may elucidate the mechanisms behind successful acoustic cueing in motor rehabilitation for a range of motor deficits such as Parkinson’s disease and stroke. We suggest that these results will have implications for motor therapies such as acoustic cueing, melodic intonation therapy, and movement sonication.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-role-of-acoustic-salience-in-acoustic-cueing-and-sound-based-motor-rehabilitation/