Queensland Aphasia Research Centre (QARC)

Optimising the lives of people with Aphasia

Music and language in the brain of older people

The aim of this project was to look at the areas of the brain that are used for processing music and language.

The project was focused on older people (55 years and older).

Listening to music stimulates areas of the brain that are important for language and cognition.

Listening to music can improve mood and arousal.

Personal music playlists could be helpful for rehabilitation.

Studies have shown that listening to music can help with aphasia recovery.
But we do not fully understand why.
There have been no studies that looked at music and lyrics listening in older people who had not had a stroke.

24 healthy young adults (18–35 years old) and 25 older adults did the study.
We asked people to listen to music while in an MRI brain scanner.
We looked at what was happening in the brain while they listened to music.
We asked them questions about how they felt after listening to the music.
People listened to three different ‘types’ of music:
1. Music with lyrics
2. Music with no lyrics
3. Spoken lyrics with no music.

It included older people who had not had a stroke.

Older adults use similar areas of the brain to young adults to process music and lyrics.
Older adults showed more activity in the ‘language’ areas of the brain when listening to music and lyrics.
When older people listened to music they liked or music that was familiar to them, they felt happier and more alert.