For those with dementia, relief through the power of music
A University of Texas at Arlington researcher hopes to help harness the power of music and technology to improve the quality of life of those living with dementia.
Kathy Lee, gerontologist and assistant professor in the School of Social Work, is helping develop an app that uses music to ease the burdens for people living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) and their loved ones.
“Among those who have advanced-stage dementia, their behaviors tend to be very sedentary. They won’t move or speak,” Lee said. “But once they hear music, especially music they are familiar with, you’ll see them respond to that.
“There is evidence that music-based interventions benefit older adults living with dementia. But we are expecting that it will also ease the burdens of caregivers providing informal care to loved ones at home.”
With the help of a federal grant from the National Institute on Aging, Lee will work with Kendra Ray, assistant research professor and music therapist at New York University and a founder of AutoTune Me LLC, to create SoundMind, an app to help combat the neuropsychiatric symptoms of ADRD. Ray will oversee the app’s overall functions and technological components, with Lee optimizing the app’s appearance and features to ensure it is best serving its users.
The goal is to create an app that automatically detects when a user is sedentary through heartbeat detection. This would trigger the app to play a pre-selected music playlist that will help them feel less agitated and depressed.
“Imagine you are caring for your loved one and you see them feeling better and more relaxed because of auto-played music in response to some of their physical factors,” Lee said. “That can empower and soothe caregivers.”
Lee believes SoundMind will ease symptoms while boosting caregivers’ well-being at the same time.
“When your loved one is struggling, it creates more stress for caregivers,” she said. “But when they are listening to music and doing better, it is also going to make caregivers feel better.”