Following the Sound of Music

Purpose

The proposed study will enroll healthy older adult participants to examine the effectiveness of music listening activities to promote hearing and cognition. Participants will be randomized into one of four experimental groups and can expect to participate for up to 21 hours of research distributed over 20 weeks.

Conditions

  • Music Listening
  • Auditory Processing
  • Attention

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Between 60 Years and 101 Years
Eligible Sex
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Inclusion Criteria

  • Age: 60+ - No self-reported auditory difficulties and normal or near-normal hearing sensitivity as measured by SRTs. - Should have no more than typical hearing loss for their age and no evidence of dementia. - Fluent in English and/or Spanish - No more than two years of formal music training in childhood OR in the past 20 years

Exclusion Criteria

  • Abnormal vision or hearing prohibitive of training - History of seizures, focal brain lesion, or head injury with loss of consciousness - Physical handicap (motor or perceptual) that would impede training procedures - Social, educational or economic hardship prohibitive to training schedule Concurrent enrollment in other cognitive training studies - History of major psychiatric illness, including psychosis, bipolar disorder, depression, alcohol or substance abuse, recent bereavement - Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15) score of 6 or higher, indicating clinically significant depressive symptoms - Not being proficient enough in English or Spanish that would prevent following and understanding all instructions and completing all testing sessions - Diagnosis of dementia or other neurological disease, including mild cognitive impairment (MCI) - Telephone-Montreal Cognitive Assessment (t-MoCA) score of 16 or less

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention Model
Parallel Assignment
Primary Purpose
Basic Science
Masking
Double (Participant, Outcomes Assessor)

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Experimental
Sound of Music Plus Attention
  • Behavioral: Music Listening with Attentional prompts
    Participants will listen to musical excerpts, and guided instructions will be provided to tell the participants what aspect of the music to pay attention to and how to respond. Participants will log responses on an interactive tablet-based interface.
Experimental
Sound of Music
  • Behavioral: Music Listening with Attentional prompts
    Participants will listen to musical excerpts, and guided instructions will be provided to tell the participants what aspect of the music to pay attention to and how to respond. Participants will log responses on an interactive tablet-based interface.
  • Behavioral: Music Listening
    Participants will listen to musical excerpts and will be provided with guided instructions directing their attention to specific aspects of the music. Participants will report when they perceive a noticeable change in the music (e.g., changes in instrumentation, rhythm, texture, or intensity). Participants will log responses on an interactive tablet-based interface.
Experimental
Sound of Tones Plus Attention
  • Behavioral: Tone listening with Attentional prompts
    Participants will be asked to attend to auditory stimuli and respond to them according to guided instructions. Participants will log responses on an interactive tablet-based interface.
No Intervention
Business as usual Control

Recruiting Locations

Northeastern University
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Contact:
Audrey Carrillo, MA
626-482-8091
a.carrillo@northeastern.edu

More Details

Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
Northeastern University

Study Contact

Audrey Carrillo, MA
‬626-482-8091
a.carrillo@northeastern.edu