Some may think that the scariest diseases are the ones that feel like they come out of nowhere. Still, the illnesses that cause someone to slip away slowly can be haunting and heartbreaking. It’s something that the 5.8 million Americans with dementia are struggling with. Scarier yet is that the number of Americans diagnosed with dementia is meant to triple by 2050, according to a recent paper cited in the Lancet.
One company marking World Alzheimer’s Month by creating a change is LUCID. The digital therapeutics company develops music-based tools to provide personalized, effective, and evidence-based music for mental health and wellness. LUCID’s music experiences are optimized for specific emotional outcomes by bridging the power of neuroscience and machine learning.
Researchers have discovered that dementia patients with agitation, anxiety and sleep disturbances experienced immediate positive effects on mood and behavior after listening to music, as shown in a recent study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. This proved that when digital therapeutics are applied through non-invasive treatments for dementia-related illnesses, symptoms like stress and anxiety can be alleviated.
“As a drug-free, non-invasive therapy, listening to music can provide cognitive, psychosocial, motor, and behavioral benefits for those with dementia or Alzheimer’s without side effects,” says Zoe Thomson, co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at LUCID. “By supporting moments of cognitive lucidity and engagement, music interventions can also help to foster a sense of connection between people living with Alzheimer’s and their loved ones.” LUCID uses these music interventions through an AI platform that crafts unique and personalized playlists of music and binaural beats that focus on the neuropsychiatric symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. This technology was validated through LUCID’s first randomized controlled clinical trial that proved their hypothesis: music can reduce anxiety. Better yet, it shows a connection between emotions and music’s ability to enhance one’s memory.
“Past research has demonstrated that personally, meaningful music can reduce agitation, anxiety and other neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s disease,” said LUCID Chief Science Officer Dr. Frank Russo, a psychology professor and senior industrial research chair in auditory cognitive neuroscience at Toronto Metropolitan University.
“Over time, these reductions may help reduce the reliance on off-label medication use, which has become exceedingly common in care homes. In addition, the reward aspect of personally meaningful music may help contribute to temporary increases in cognitive function. These temporary increases may be significant for caregivers and patients alike.”
Ultimately, LUCID hopes to continue transforming music into medicine through clinically-validated research and further explore how music can be a promising intervention for a difficult diagnosis.
