Impact of Accompaniment Music on Rehabilitation Compliance and Performance During Music-based Training in Stroke 8252

Abstract

Objectives

To investigate the impact of accompaniment music on patient compliance and performance during a 2-week in-home upper extremity music-based training (MBT) in stroke survivors.

Design

This is a within-subject feasibility study to understand how music influences participants’ engagement and performance during home training.

Setting

Participants’ home.

Participants

Community-dwelling individuals with chronic stroke and mild to moderate hemiplegia.

Interventions

During the 2-week MBT, participants were asked to exercise their upper extremities for at least 1 h/d with a piano keyboard and an iPad installed with a stroke-specific MBT app. The MBT included 2 training modes, nonmusic versus music, which were switched alternatively throughout the 2 weeks. Under the nonmusic mode, participants’ keystrokes were visually cued although they could hear the musical notes that they played on the keyboard. Under the music mode, accompaniment music with a steady pulse and visual guides cued key presses.

Main Outcome Measures

The app usage time (total and daily) and keynote press accuracy were measured to understand participants’ training compliance and performance, respectively. We compared the results between the 2 different modes to explore the impact of the accompaniment music on stroke survivors.

Results

We recruited 5 stroke survivors and observed the average total usage of 131 minutes for nonmusic mode and 142 minutes for music mode across all the participants. The average daily app usages were 22.9 min/d and 26.56 min/d under nonmusic and music modes, respectively. We also observed a difference in keynote press accuracy between the nonmusic mode (averaged 0.115s delay) and the music mode (averaged 0.097s delay).

Conclusions

Our preliminary results showed that stroke participants had greater use of the MBT app for rehab exercises under the music mode than the nonmusic mode. Participants’ keynote press accuracy was also more precise when they could hear the accompaniment music. These findings suggest that accompaniment music may play an important role in affecting not only participants’ engagement but also their performance. Data collection will be continued to demonstrate a robust result and explore the potential explanations for the observed differences.

Disclosures

none.