Memory Loss: Music Can Help People Tune In
09.01.11 - Daily Chronicle by Nicole Weskerna
When it comes to memory loss, the final memories people tend to cling to are those tied to music.
Lincolnshire Place, a residence geared toward serving people with memory loss, relies heavily on music therapy to keep its residents actively engaged. Tina Thompson, activities director for the center, said music can get even individuals functioning at a low level to respond.
“People remember tunes, and it triggers a memory,” Thompson said. “People who don’t open their eyes or communicate, you can see their fingers or their toes tapping.”
Stimulating the senses through music has been a staple of the memory care center since it opened about a year ago. Music is usually piped through speakers in the halls, and residents can often be found dancing to the live bluegrass band that plays there once a month. Sometimes music is played during meals, which helps some of the residents eat better, Thompson said.
“That’s why we spend so much time on it,” said Kim Zamora, community director for the center. “We get the biggest response from it.”
Jen Conley, who works for a different organization that uses music therapy, remembers a story about a man whose memory had faded to the point where he wouldn’t remember to eat. He hadn’t been responsive in months.
Conley, a music therapist for KishHealth System’s DeKalb County Hospice, decided to play a song on the piano because the man’s wife had played that instrument. Out of the blue, he said, “That’s ‘Edelweiss.’ ”
Conley has countless stories chronicling the ways music has improved cognitive and motor functions in people with a wide variety of health issues. Music can be used as a calming mechanism, can reduce pain and can help people express emotions, she said.
As family members watch a loved one’s health deteriorate, Conley said an illness tends to define them – especially with memory loss. When people respond to music, a glimmer of that familiar personality is able to shine through, even if it is just for a second.
“It celebrates who a person was,” she said.
At Lincolnshire Place, residents may not know their own names or those of family members, but they’ll recognize a song they used to sing in church or used to dance to, Zamora said.
“It’s that part of the brain that is last to deteriorate,” she said.
One of the ways music therapy is applied at the center is through a Snoezelen, which is an apparatus that stimulates the senses through several outlets.
Calming music is played while residents watch colorful images projected onto a wall, and they can watch soothing bubbles in a clear tube of water, which also changes colors. The machine includes aromatherapy, and residents also can touch the colorful fiber-optic tubing attached to the machine. Staff members provide foot massages when the machine is on, too, creating an overall calming effect.
Conley said music triggers a different part of the brain, which explains why some children learn to sing the alphabet before they can speak it. The brain retains memories like a snapshot, and when a familiar song plays, it can conjure up the emotions a person felt while listening to a certain song on a road trip or singing an old church hymn, she said.
The key to effective music therapy, Conley said, is playing music that means something to people.
While music therapy is still relatively new in the health care field, Conley said the notion has been around since the 1950s, when music was used to help war veterans who suffered from depression.
The therapy works, Conley said, partly because it’s deeply integrated in our culture, creating a universal language. We’re also biologically hard-wired to respond to music, she said, which is the reason a heartbeat will sync up with the beat of a song that’s playing.
“Music is uniquely human,” she said. “We have a heartbeat. We carry our own rhythm.”
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