http://www.theage.com.au/world/song-therapy-restores-speech-in-stroke-victims-20100221-onzw.html
Song therapy restores speech in stroke victims SAN DIEGO February 22, 2010 US scientists have restored speech to stroke victims by getting them to sing words instead of speaking them, says a leading neurologist. Gottfried Schlaug, an associate professor of neurology at Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Centre and Harvard Medical School, has found that patients who have suffered a stroke in the left side of the brain and are unable to speak words are often able to sing them. He showed reporters at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on Saturday a video of a patient with a stroke lesion on the left side of the brain, whom he asked to recite the words of the birthday song. The patient was unable to comply, and merely repeated the letters N and O. But when Professor Schlaug asked him to sing the song, while someone held the patient's left hand and tapped it rhythmically, the words ''Happy birthday to you'' came out clear as day. Another patient, who had a large lesion on the left side of the brain and had for several years tried various therapies to try to regain the power of speech, all unsuccessful, was taught to say his address. Images of the brains of patients with stroke lesions on the left side of the brain - which is typically used more for speech - show ''functional and structural changes'' on the right side of the brain after they have undergone this Music Intonation Therapy (MIT). In the US, MIT could help up to 70,000 stroke victims to retrieve the ability to speak, Professor Schlaug said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
