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Stimulating Music: Combining Melodic Intonation Therapy with Transcranial DC Stimulation to Facilitate Speech Recovery after Stroke

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Transmitters and Modulators in Health and Disease

Summary

It may be strange to think that singing could help a stroke victim speak again, but this is the goal of Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT), a speech therapy that emphasizes musical aspects of language. The positive effects of MIT on speech recovery may be mediated by a frontotemporal brain network in the right hemisphere. We investigated the potential for a non-invasive brain stimulation technique, Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), to augment the benefits of MIT for patients with severe non-fluent aphasias. The tDCS was applied to the posterior inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) of the right hemisphere, under the assumption that the posterior IFG is a key region in the process of recovering from aphasia. The stimulation coincided with an MIT session, conducted by a trained therapist. Participants’ language fluency improved significantly more with real tDCS + MIT, compared to sham tDCS + MIT. These results provide evidence that combining tDCS with MIT may enhance activity in a sensorimotor network for articulation in the right hemisphere, to compensate for damaged left-hemisphere language centers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Bradley W. Vines, Andrea C. Norton & Gottfried Schlaug

  2. Institute of Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, The University of British Columbia, 430-5950 University Boulevard, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3, Canada

    Bradley W. Vines

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  1. Bradley W. Vines
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  2. Andrea C. Norton
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  3. Gottfried Schlaug
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, Showa University School of Medicine, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 142-8555, Japan

    Seiji Shioda M.D., Ph.D. (Professor) (Professor)

  2. Department of Physiology, Showa University School of Medicine, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 142-8555, Japan

    Ikuo Homma M.D., Ph.D. (Professor) (Professor)

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Karasuyama Hospital, Showa University School of Medicine, 6-11-11, Kitakarasuyama, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 157-8577, Japan

    Nobumasa Kato M.D., Ph.D. (Professor) (Professor)

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© 2009 Springer

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Vines, B.W., Norton, A.C., Schlaug, G. (2009). Stimulating Music: Combining Melodic Intonation Therapy with Transcranial DC Stimulation to Facilitate Speech Recovery after Stroke. In: Shioda, S., Homma, I., Kato, N. (eds) Transmitters and Modulators in Health and Disease. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-99039-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-99039-0_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo

  • Print ISBN: 978-4-431-99038-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-4-431-99039-0

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