Enjoying to relaxing music could restore loss vision in patients who suffered a stroke, UK research implies.
60% of stroke patients experience “visual neglect,” a condition defined by visual impairment following the attack.
The capacity to follow objects in their eye line on the side opposite to the damage caused by the stroke is lost. It happens because of harm caused to the areas of the brain critical for the incorporation of vision, focus and activity.
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study proposes the theory that music can help this correct itself.
The current study investigated three patients who had lost half their vision.
They worked on everyday jobs while listening to music they enjoyed, music they did not enjoy, and without any music. All three could label highlighted shapes and things in their affected side of vision much more easily while they were listening to music that they enjoyed.
The researchers think that the pleasant music creates optimistic emotions, which produce more competent indications in the brain, increasing its capability to understand stimuli.
Brain scans correlated the theory that listening to music triggered areas connected to encouraging emotional responses, which reinforced the patients’ performance on the tasks.
Lead researcher Dr David Soto, from Imperial College London, said: “Visual neglect can be a very distressing condition for stroke patients. It has a big effect on their day-to-day lives. Our findings suggest that we should think more carefully about the individual emotional factors in patients with visual neglect and in other neurological patients following a stroke.”
“Music appears to improve awareness because of its positive emotional effect on the patient, so similar beneficial effects may also be gained by making the patient happy in other ways.”
Joanne Murphy, of the Stroke Association said: “This is very interesting research that indicates that a positive emotional state can help a stroke survivor with an obstacle such as visual neglect.
We would welcome further research into this and other conditions which could help benefit the 150,000 people affected by stroke each year.”
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