Brain Advance Access originally published online on September 7, 2006
Brain 2006 129(10):2571-2584; doi:10.1093/brain/awl250
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Making non-fluent aphasics speak: sing along!
1 Department of Psychology, University of Montreal Montreal, Quebec, Canada 2 Department of Radiology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Montréal Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Correspondence to: Isabelle Peretz, PhD, Département de psychologie, Université de Montréal, Pavillon Marie-Victorin, local D-418, 90, avenue Vincent D'Indy, Montreal, Quebec, H2V 2S9, Canada E-mail: isabelle.peretz{at}umontreal.ca
A classic observation in neurology is that aphasics can sing words they cannot pronounce otherwise. To further assess this claim, we investigated the production of sung and spoken utterances in eight brain-damaged patients suffering from a variety of speech disorders as a consequence of a left-hemisphere lesion. In Experiment 1, the patients were tested in the repetition and recall of words and notes of familiar material. Lyrics of familiar songs, as well as words of proverbs and prayers, were not better pronounced in singing than in speaking. Notes were better produced than words. In Experiment 2, the aphasic patients repeated and recalled lyrics from novel songs. Again, they did not produce more words in singing than in speaking. In Experiment 3, when allowed to sing or speak along with an auditory model while learning novel songs, aphasics repeated and recalled more words when singing than when speaking. Reduced speed or shadowing cannot account for this advantage of singing along over speaking in unison. The results suggest that singing in synchrony with an auditory model—choral singing—is more effective than choral speech, at least in French, in improving word intelligibility because choral singing may entrain more than one auditory–vocal interface. Thus, choral singing appears to be an effective means of speech therapy.
Key Words: aphasia; singing; speech; melodic intonation therapy; music
Abbreviations: MIT, Melodic Intonation Therapy
Received June 26, 2006. Revised August 11, 2006. Accepted August 14, 2006.
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