Hull’s MediMusic and Anglia Ruskin University have been awarded £183,682 to investigate how AI technology and music can help people of South Asian backgrounds, who are living with dementia.
It’s believed to be the first time that music therapy research has been carried out specifically involving people of South Asian backgrounds living in care homes in the UK.
The study aims to find out whether the tech can ease pain, anxiety and stress.
Having first expanded the libraries of Indian and Pakistani music on MediMusic, the researchers will next explore how the machine learning-based music recommendation app can be used as a form of therapy to support Indian and Pakistani care home residents with dementia, as well as their professional carers.
“This study is incredibly exciting as research hasn’t been carried out amongst care home residents from the South Asian community before, but we know from our previous work that music can have a joyful and calming effect for those living with dementia and those looking after them,” said Dr Ming Hung Hsu, a Senior Research Fellow at Anglia Ruskin University.
“We will begin by exploring the meaning and use of South Asian music in people’s everyday lives, carry out interviews with those involved in delivering care, and then progress to a controlled pilot study involving care home residents of South Asian backgrounds and their professional carers. This will examine the feasibility of implementing music therapy, using the MediMusic app, within care homes to manage distress for those with dementia.”
MediMusic’s algorithms extract the relevant features from the digital DNA of a piece of music, resulting in a “fingerprint” for healthcare use. MediMusic works with the patient’s age, gender, nationality, and ethnicity, and then in seconds compiles a 20-minute playlist of music to influence multiple areas of the human brain to help reduce anxiety and pain.
Initial clinical trials at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust found the use of MediMusic saw a reduction in heart rate in patients living with dementia by up to 25%.
The Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research at Anglia Ruskin University has a team of 30 researchers, including PhD students, and is one of the largest and most influential research units of its kind in the world.
