Melodic Intonation Therapy for Tone Language Speakers

One of the traditional therapies for restoring the ability of speech in aphasic patients is Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT), in which everyday phrases are taught in a singing-like manner. The suggested mechanism for speech recovery is that because of the sharing of brain resources for language and music, the regions normally reserved for singing can be trained to help compensate the speech functions originally subserved by the damaged regions. However, this therapy has primarily been applied to speakers of non-tone languages, in which prosodic features carry a more important role than pitch features in conveying meanings. It remains unknown whether MIT will be equally applicable for speakers of tone languages, in which pitch features likely play a more important role. Another uncertainty concerns whether the efficacy of MIT can be extended to patients with expressive speech impairment due to dementia. This pilot study aims to find out the efficacy of MIT for speech-impaired dementia patients in different verbal tasks. The results of this study will provide preliminary empirical evidence to establish the utility of MIT for Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong.

Study Overview

• Status: Suspended
• Conditions: Dementia; Speech Therapy
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT)

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 40
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong, Hong Kong
    • Elderly homes

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 46 years to 96 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Early to moderate stage dementia patient
• Normal hearing (hearing aid accepted)
• Non-fluent speech (max. score of fluency in Cantonese Aphasia Battery spontaneous speech subtest = 6/10)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Non-native Cantonese speaker
• Illiterate
• Aphasic patients
• Subjects who receive other speech therapy during study

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: MIT group; Subjects will receive the developed Melodic Intonation Therapy.	Behavioral: Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT); Subjects will receive at least 6 MIT sessions in group of 3-5 subjects. In the sessions, experimenter will sing songs with the subjects. Songs used in the intervention are familiar to elderly and are rewritten and embedded with everyday phrases and vocabularies. The whole intervention will span 3-4 weeks.
No Intervention: Control group; Subjects will not receive any intervention.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Aphasia Quotient (AQ) in Cantonese Aphasia Battery	Two subtests of the Cantonese Aphasia Battery (auditory comprehension & spontaneous speech) will be executed. Higher AQ means better performance in the respective areas. The minimum of AQ in each subtest is 0, and the maximum is 20.	within a week after procedure

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in latency and accuracy in picture naming task	In the computerized picture naming task, subjects are asked to name the objects they see in 52 pictures, within 5000 ms per picture. Visual stimuli of the task are black and white line-drawings. Responses are all recorded for analysis.	within a week after procedure
Change in performance of semantic fluency task	In the computerized semantic fluency task, subjects are given 5 categories (e.g. animals) and asked to name as many members of the categories (e.g. cat, dog) as possible. For each category, they have one minute to respond. All the responses are recorded for analysis.	within a week after procedure

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: William Shi Yuan Wang, Ph.D., The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Albert ML, Sparks RW, Helm NA. Melodic intonation therapy for aphasia. Arch Neurol. 1973 Aug;29(2):130-1. doi: 10.1001/archneur.1973.00490260074018. No abstract available.
• Sparks R, Helm N, Albert M. Aphasia rehabilitation resulting from melodic intonation therapy. Cortex. 1974 Dec;10(4):303-16. doi: 10.1016/s0010-9452(74)80024-9. No abstract available.
• Sarkamo T, Sihvonen AJ. Golden oldies and silver brains: Deficits, preservation, learning, and rehabilitation effects of music in ageing-related neurological disorders. Cortex. 2018 Dec;109:104-123. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2018.08.034. Epub 2018 Sep 19.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Anticipated): August 1, 2020
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): December 31, 2020
• Study Completion (Anticipated): February 28, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 3, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 6, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): January 9, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 10, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 8, 2020
• Last Verified: December 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Music; Melodic Intonation Therapy; Tone language
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Nervous System Diseases; Neurologic Manifestations; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Communication Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: IZZKJ

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No
• IPD Plan Description: All the data collected in screening, pre- and post-assessment will not be shared with other researchers.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No