HELSINKI, Finland, Feb 20, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Researchers in Finland
found that when stroke patients listen to music for a couple of hours a day,
their verbal memory and focused attention recover better.
The study, published in the journal Brain, also said stroke patients who
listened to music had a more positive mood than patients who did not listen to
anything or who listened to audio books.
First author Teppo Sarkamo, a doctoral student at the University of Helsinki and
at the Helsinki Brain Research Centre, focused on patients who had suffered a
stroke.
The researchers recruited 60 patients to the single-blind, randomized,
controlled trial from March 2004 to May 2006. They worked with the patients as
soon as possible after they had been admitted to the hospital.
Most of the stroke patients had problems with movement and with cognitive
processes, such as attention and memory. Some were assigned to listening to
music -- pop, classical, jazz or folk -- some to audio books and one group was
the control. All received standard stroke rehabilitation.
Three months after the stroke, verbal memory improved by 60 percent in music
listeners, 18 percent in audio book listeners and 29 percent in the control
group, the study said.
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Copyright 2008 by United Press International