Loss of words, incoherent language, understanding but inability to be understood: these are illnesses that people with aphasia deal with on a daily basis. All these difficulties make the life of people suffering from aphasia and their loved ones especially difficult. This disorder occurs after a cerebral shock, which can occur during CNS (cerebrovascular arrest) or concussion. The best way to deal with this cognitive disorder is speech therapy. However, the path to the restoration of the language is long and psychologically difficult for the patient and his environment.
To facilitate and speed up the passage of this test, singing, and especially the choir, showed real effectiveness both in the treatment of patients and in the mental load of others. In an article published in the journal Brain Communication, researchers from the University of Helsinki, Finland studied the effect of singing on the recovery of communication and speech skills in people with aphasia. They also considered the beneficial effects of the choir on the sociability and morale of patients and their caregivers.
Loss of words, incoherent language, understanding but inability to be understood: these are illnesses that people with aphasia deal with on a daily basis. All these difficulties make the life of people suffering from aphasia and their loved ones especially difficult. This disorder develops after a cerebral shock, which can occur during CNS (cerebrovascular arrest) or concussion. The best way to deal with this cognitive disorder is speech therapy. However, the path to the restoration of the language is long and psychologically difficult for the patient and his environment.
To facilitate and speed up the passage of this test, singing, and especially the choir, showed real effectiveness both in the treatment of patients and in the mental load of others. In an article published in the journal Brain Communication, researchers from the University of Helsinki, Finland, investigated the effect of group singing on the recovery of communication and speech skills in people with aphasia. They also considered the beneficial effects of the choir on the sociability and morale of patients and their caregivers.
Aphasia: diseases of the brain
Nearly half of stroke survivors have aphasia. It occurs after brain damage in Wernicke’s and Broca’s areas located in the left temporal lobe. The former is involved in the understanding of the language, while the latter plays a key role in its production. Each type of aphasia is specific to the affected part of the brain. When Broca’s area is affected, people may understand what is being said to them, but have great difficulty delivering artificial speech in response. They speak very slowly, lose their words and, for the most part, also cannot write. As for the disorders caused by the defeat of Wernicke’s area, here the problem is no longer in the form of speech, but in its meaning. People with Wernicke’s aphasia are quite capable of saying sentences with a natural rhythm, but this will be a mixture of words that are incomprehensible to their interlocutor. These 2 main types of aphasia sometimes disappear without treatment some time after a brain shock, but they can persist for much longer periods of time ranging from a few months to the rest of a person’s life. There is no effective treatment for this defect, but a speech therapist has proven effective in improving the communication skills of people with aphasia.
Long lasting therapy
To reach this conclusion, the scientists arranged sessions during which the participants combined their voices. These therapeutic interventions lasted 4 months and involved 54 people with aphasia and 43 caregivers. For those who participated in the study, these 4 months were marked by weekly choir lessons and singing lessons at home using exercises on the tablet. All these classes were practiced in addition to speech therapy. After that third of the year, with music interspersed with their daily lives, about fifty study participants continued to observe and answer the questionnaire for five months.
Nine months into the experiment, the researchers were able to determine that, compared with standard treatment consisting only of speech therapy, “group singing sessions improved the communication skills and social participation of people with aphasia. Based on neuropsychological tests, we also observed progress in speech production for formulating responses during the period when participants participated in the choir,” explains Science et Avenir Anni Pitkäniemi, co-author of the study and doctoral student in the Department of Psychology and Speech Therapy at the University of Helsinki. According to the researcher, the effects of this therapy may improve participants’ verbal and non-verbal abilities, increase their frequency of participation in social activities, and even make it easier to recover the words patients want to express. This experience was also useful for relatives of patients with aphasia. “We found that the therapy reduced mental stress in loved ones. They reported that they felt less pressure and stress after the session,” emphasizes Anni Pitkäniemi. She adds: “This is an important finding because caregivers of people with aphasia are dominated by cases of mood disorder.”
The Group as a Catalyst for Healing
By itself, singing has already been shown to be effective in the context of aphasia. The ability to sing often persists after a stroke, so it can be used to practice verbal production. This experience adds a social dimension to this form of therapy, which seems to be the source of its increased effectiveness. “We believe that peer support is a very important element in this kind of experience. Patients could meet people with the same difficulties as they had in a motivating environment. a choir can bring pleasant conversation and create the impression of belonging to a community, even for non-speaking people,” Anni Pitkäniemi explains.
This approach still requires a lot of research work to be able to use it to the best of my ability. Finnish scientists believe that more specific studies are needed to determine the effectiveness of this therapy depending on the type of aphasia and its severity. They also explain that their research work involves several factors (group effect, singing, home rehearsals, etc.) and that it is necessary to know which ones have the greatest effect in order to optimize therapy. Although this method is still littered with gray areas, it is still “a very safe and interesting way to restore speech,” Annie Pitkäniemi concludes.