Melodic Intonation Therapy: Difference between revisions

However, a recent study suggests that it may not be singing itself that facilitates speech production in patients with [[non-fluent aphasia]] and [[apraxia of speech]], but [[rhythm| rhythmic pacing]] and lyric type [http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/134/10/3083.full.pdf (Stahl et al., 2011]). The rates of correct syllable production were found to be similar when patients were singing or speaking rhythmically. Hence, the study did not reveal an effect of singing over rhythmic speech. Also, the results indicate that speech production in patients with left-hemisphere [[basal ganglia]] [[lesions]] may be particularly dependent on external rhythmic cues, such as a metronome. Patients with larger basal ganglia lesions produced more syllables correctly when they were singing or speaking with rhythmic accompaniment. Finally, the results also confirmed that common, [[formulaic speech|formulaic expressions]] (e.g., “How are you?”) may have a strong impact on speech production in persons with non-fluent aphasia and apraxia of speech. Formulaic expressions yielded higher rates of correctly produced syllables than non-formulaic utterances, whether they were sung or rhythmically spoken.

The critical role of [[rhythm|rhythmic pacing]] and [[formulaic speech|formulaic language]] in MIT was confirmed in a subsequent therapy study [http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00035/full (Stahl et al., 2013]). The results of the study suggest that singing and rhythmic speech may be similarly effective in the treatment of non-fluent aphasia and apraxia of speech. These findings challenge the view that singing causes a transfer of language function from the left to the right hemisphere. Instead, patients made good progress in the production of [[formulaic speech|formulaic expressions]], known to be supported by areas of the right hemisphere. Therefore, the particular sensitivity of the right hemisphere to MIT may, alsoamong other factors, depend on the intensive use of formulaic expressions. Taken together, these results recommend the combined use of standard [[speech therapy|speech-language therapy]] and the training of [[formulaic speech|formulaic expressions]], whether they are sung or rhythmically spoken. “Standard speech-language therapy may engage, in particular, left [[Lesion|perilesional]] brain regions, while training of formulaic phrases may open new ways of tapping into right-hemisphere language resources – even without singing,” the authors of the study conclude.