Objective: It is investigated that the external auditory stimuli affect motor synchronization and control in patients with PD,and further studied that how music therapy or other forms of auditory cueing impact the neural activity in key cortical timing brain regions.

Background: Music therapy improves neuronal activity and connectivity of healthy persons and patients with clinical symptoms of neurological diseases like Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and Major Depression. In this 3-part series of studies, each of the three neurological disorders,ie. Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and Major Depression – will be treated individually in detail.

Method: For patients suffering from PD, we propose a daily 25-minute music-based synchronous finger tapping  intervention for 8-weeks. Participants will be each split into two groups: an intervention group and a control arm. Assessment of finger tapping performances, the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale, an n-back test, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, as well as oxygenated- (HbO2 ), deoxygenated- hemoglobin (HbR), and total hemoglobin activation collected by functional near-infrared spectroscopy will be measured at baseline, week 4 (during), week 8 (post), and week 12 (retention) of the study. Data of the two groups will be compared to baseline performances from healthy controls.

Results: The primary outcomes will be the differences in cortical neural activity with and without external stimuli training measured with fNIRS while participants, diagnosed with various degrees of PD, are asked to perform a synchronous finger tapping activity; the extent to which the external stimuli training improves performance in the SFT and the extent to which the proposed intervention improves PD symptoms or at least prevents further debilitation. The outcomes will be determined by analyzing participants’ pre-, 4-week (during),8-week (post), and 12-week (retention) neuroimaging, neuropsychological, and SFT performance scores when compared with the data from the control arm.

Conclusion: The trial study investigates the cortical neuronal activity and therapeutic effects associated with an auditory external cue used to induce automatic and implicit synchronous finger tapping in patients diagnosed with PD. The extent to which the intervention is effective may be dependent on the severity of the disease.

« Back to MDS Virtual Congress 2020

MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/therapeutic-benefits-of-music-for-three-types-of-neurological-disorders-an-fnirs-study-protocol-for-controlled-trial-in-dalian-china-part-1-parkinsons-disease/