The Role of Music and Music Therapy in Aphasia Rehabilitation

A stroke results in brain damage, often causing loss or reduction in speech and language capacity. Music and music therapy can contribute to the recovery of speech and provide emotional support to individuals with aphasia. There is a diverse body of research on the links between music and language. Musical structure is related to language syntax. Singing songs from one’s culture, the emotional act of singing, the theatrics of singing, and musical improvisation can all influence speech output. The purpose of this article is to review current research on the links between language and music in brain function in order to further explore, through case study and analysis of music therapy application, how music might be employed as part of a comprehensive, multimodal approach to speech and language rehabilitation.