Neural Mechanisms of Clinically Designed Improvisatory Music for Alzheimer's Disease

Summary

Clinically Designed Improvisatory Music (CDIM) is a form of improvised music based on calm-inducing sound parameters which brought relief to our cohort of neurology patients. As a direct sound-based approach, CDIM does not rely on autobiographical memory and may have wider applicability and generalizability. We wish to examine if CDIM decreases anxiety in 15 cognitively healthy individuals and 15 Alzheimer Disease patients with anxiety (AD-A).

Interventions

• Clinically Designed Improvisatory Music · BEHAVIORAL

  Clinically Designed Improvisatory Music (CDIM) is a form of improvised music based on calm-inducing sound parameters which brought relief to our cohort of neurology patients.

Published eligibility criteria

Verbatim from the registry. Only the site can decide how these apply to a specific patient.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Cognitively healthy individuals

   Cognitively healthy control participants evaluated through the Northwestern Mesulam Center. BAI \> 8.

   Exclusion Criteria: hearing loss
2. Individuals with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease

This group will similarly be recruited through the Mesulam Center. All individuals recruited by the research Core at the center are well characterized tests standardized across all NIH funded Alzheimer Centers across the nation. Individuals with mild to moderate neurocognitive disorder due to AD will have an MMSE greater than \>15 and Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) between 0.5 and 2.. They will also have a history of neurocognitive-related agitation/anxiety, and a Beck Anxiety Index (BAI) or Rating for Anxiety in Dementia (RAID) greater than 8, suggestive of at least a mild level of anxiety.

Exclusion criteria: MMSE\<15, CDR\>2, hearing loss

Sites (1)

• Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease, Chicago, Illinois