Neurological Music Therapy via Telehealth for Improving Speech in Parkinson’s Disease

This presentation will provide an overview of a clinical research project conducted at the University of Toronto investigating the effectiveness of employing Neurological Music Therapy (NMT) speech techniques in telehealth sessions, in addition to a NMT home program, for improving speech intelligibility, speech rate and speech-related quality of life in individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The researcher will present their findings from a case study of a 70-year-old male with PD participating in 20 weeks of a NMT program. It will include a description of the rationale for the study, the methods and protocol, and the expected and observed outcomes as they relate to the hypotheses. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of whether the use of NMT speech techniques in telehealth for individuals with PD-related speech impairments was effective and propose future directions for research with this client population based on the current study’s findings.