Abstract
It is well known and documented that sensory perception decreases with age. In the elderly population, hearing loss and reduced vestibular function are among the most prevalently affected senses. Two important side effects of sensory deprivation are cognitive decline and decrease in social participation. Hearing loss, vestibular function impairment, and cognitive decline all lead to a decrease in social participation. Altogether, these problems have a great impact on the quality of life of the elderly. This is why a rehabilitation program covering all of these aspects would therefore be useful for clinicians. It is well known that long-term music training can lead to cortical plasticity. Behavioral improvements have been measured for cognitive abilities and sensory modalities (auditory, motor, tactile, and visual) in healthy young adults. Based on these findings, it is possible to wonder if this kind of multisensory training would be an interesting therapy to not only improve communication but also help with posture and balance, cognitive abilities, and social participation. The aim of this review is to assess and validate the impact of music therapy in the context of hearing rehabilitation in older adults. Musical therapy seems to have a positive impact on auditory perception, posture and balance, social integration, and cognition. While the benefits seem obvious, the evidence in the literature is scarce. However, there is no reason not to recommend the use of music therapy as an adjunct to audiological rehabilitation in the elderly when possible. Further investigations are needed to conclude on the extent of the benefits that music therapy could bring to older adults. More data are needed to confirm which hearing abilities can be improved based on the many characteristics of hearing loss. There is also a need to provide a clear protocol for clinicians on how this therapy should be administered to offer the greatest possible benefits.
Highlights
IntroductionMusic Therapy as Audiological Rehabilitation normal-hearing people are even more problematic in people with hearing loss
Disabling hearing loss is an important problem to address among older adults
The findings revealed that the musical intervention reduced significantly the depressive symptom scores on the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD) for participants of the choir compared to the control group
Summary
Music Therapy as Audiological Rehabilitation normal-hearing people are even more problematic in people with hearing loss This is why it is not surprising that presbycusis leads to reduced hearing thresholds and to difficulties to understand speech in noise, degradation of central auditory processing, and impaired localization of sounds in the environment. The harmonic structure and attack or release times appear to be less well perceived in individuals with hearing loss These components are important for the formation of auditory objects in a short time scale (e.g., the formation of syllables during the presence of several conversations at the same time). The fine spectro-temporal structure is less well encoded This point can make auditory unmasking difficult, a skill necessary to isolate auditory objects from the auditory scene, for example, when it is needed to understand speech in noise
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