The Center for Music & Medicine’s research explores the impact of music and rhythm-based therapies on Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, stroke and a number of other disorders. In addition, the center aims to study the neurological and musculoskeletal impact of repetitive practice and performance, and isolate practice and performance patterns that predispose musicians and dancers to occupational injuries.

Clinical Research Goals

Developing effective music and rhythm-based therapies requires a deep understanding of how music and rhythm affect the brain. There is also a pressing need to understand the biomechanical determinants and mechanisms of occupational disorders in musicians..

Research initiatives include the following:

Neuroimaging Studies

• State-of-the-art functional and structural brain MRI techniques to help us understand the mechanisms supporting the use of music and rhythm as therapeutic tools
• Neuroimaging to facilitate insight into the perception and creation of music
• Neuroimaging and computational methods to advance the application of motor learning concepts and using these to design efficient training regimens for musicians and others with high-precision sensorimotor demands

Researching Music and Rhythm-based Interventions

• Providing ongoing music- and dance-based therapy to patients with Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, stroke and other disorders
• Studying rhythmic entrainment (rhythmic patterns) and rhythmic auditory stimulation therapy, which uses focused sounds to stimulate the brain, for walking and balance in parkinsonian disorders
• Investigating the benefits of choral singing on Parkinson's disease patients’ quality of life and voice outcomes in a well-controlled trial (ParkinSonics trial)
• Studying the behavioral effects when institutionalized Alzheimer’s patients listen to familiar and personally meaningful music (a concept described in the 2014 award-winning documentary Alive Inside, which suggests that music can bring joy back into the lives of people with dementia and other conditions that result in institutionalization) versus unfamiliar music
• Assessing rhythm-based therapies such as group drumming to enhance walking and balance in Parkinsonian disorders as well as Huntington disease
• Investigating the benefits of guitar group lessons on Parkinson's disease patients’ quality of life, function and hand dexterity 

Researching Interventions for Musicians’ Playing and Singing-Related Disorders

• Objective analysis of musician performance to determine the cause of the occupational problem and develop long-term rehabilitation solutions
• Development of measurement tools and systematic methods to investigate playing-related biomechanical problems in musicians.
• Analysis of the biomechanics of instrument play and motor expertise using the Peabody Smart Instrument Series to assess biomechanical loads on musicians
• Investigating various re-training methods and their outcomes for improving function for musicians (for example, guitarists) with dystonia

Research Studies

Below are research projects at Johns Hopkins involving the Center for Music & Medicine. An asterisk (*) next to project name indicates those utilizing the Impact Thinking Model.

Music therapy for Alzheimer dementia: clinical and fMRI outcomes*

• Population: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease
• Description: Open label study assessing impact of 8 weeks of twice-weekly reminiscence-based virtual music therapy on neuropsychiatric symptoms, resting state and task-based network connectivity
• Investigators: Barrett, Rosenberg, Magsamen, Devlin, McGregor, Kang, Pantelyat
• Status: Enrolling
• More information from clinicaltrials.gov

Neurologic Music Therapy combined with EEG-tDCS for upper motor extremity performance in patients with atypical parkinsonian disorders

• Population: Diagnosed with Corticobasal Syndrome
• Description: This study is designed to investigate how 3 weeks of twice-weekly neurologic music therapy (NMT) and non-invasive brain stimulation (e.g., transcranial direct current stimulation, tDCS) are effective to improve functional upper extremity performance in patients with corticobasal syndrome (CBS).
• Investigators: Kang, Bedell, Stenum, Roemmich, Pantelyat
• Status: Data collection
• More information from clinicaltrials.gov

Effects of Recorded Music on Clinical and EEG Seizure Activity

• Population: Children/Youth (age 4-17 years old) with epilepsy
• Description: This study explores if there are differences in epileptiform activity and clinical seizures between Mozart K.448, instrumental preferred songs and a patient's baseline activity during EMU stays.
• Investigators: Kelley, Devlin, Kang, Pantelyat
• Status: Enrolling
• More information from clinicaltrials.gov

Guitar-PD*

• Population: Parkinson's disease
• Description: 18-week delayed start trial of twice weekly group guitar lessons for QOL, typing, other motor and mood outcomes
• Investigators: Bastepe-Gray, Pantelyat
• Status: Published

Music Therapy and Music-Based Interventions for Movement Disorders

• Description: This review paper highlights the findings of recent study using music and rhythm-based interventions for movement disorders.
• Investigators: Devlin, Alshaikh, Pantelyat
• Status: Published

Parkinsonics

• Population: Parkinson's disease
• Description: 30-week randomized controlled trial of weekly group singing vs. support group for QOL, voice, motor and mood outcomes
• Investigators: Pantelyat
• Status: Published

Drum-PD/HD*

• Population: Parkinson disease, Huntington disease, caregivers
• Description: 18-week parallel group pilot study of twice weekly drumming for patients and their care partners for caregiver burden, QOL, mood, and disease-specific functional outcomes
• Investigators: Pantelyat, Bastepe-Gray
• Status: Manuscript in preparation

Personally meaningful music for dementia

• Population: Mixed dementia population in a nursing facility (Integrace, Sykesville, MD)
• Description: Controlled study of a single personally meaningful song vs. control song administered 3x/week over 5 weeks for immediate and longer-term behavioral and neuropsychiatric outcomes
• Investigators: Tabassum Majid (Integrace Institute), Pantelyat
• Status: Manuscript in preparation

Personally meaningful music for C-sections

• Population: Women at JHH undergoing elective C-sections
• Description: Study of short-term pre- and post-operative effects of personally selected music channel for vital signs, pain, anxiety, medication use, and satisfaction
• Investigators: Martin, Pantelyat
• Status: Enrolling

Music Listening as a Postanesthesia Care Unit (PACU) Nursing Intervention after Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy

• Population: Men at JHH undergoing laparoscopic radical prostatectomies
• Description: Controlled study of short term post-anesthesia effects of personally selected music channel vs. relaxation/breathing recording for vital signs, pain, anxiety, medication use, and satisfaction
• Investigators: Mamaril, Kaiser, Scala, Pantelyat
• Status: Published

Use of Music for Pain Management Workflow: A Quality Improvement Project

• Population: Nurses and patients at JHH
• Description: Interview-based assessment of current use of music for pain control on multiple nursing units at JHH
• Investigators: Pandian, Pantelyat, Marsteller
• Status: Enrolling