The Idea of an Essay, Volume 3

182 The Idea of an Essay: Volume 3 People who have had a stroke—like Samuel S.—sometimes develop nonfluent aphasia, also known as Broca’s aphasia, which takes away their ability to speak without touching their ability to understand. Even though they have lost their speech, people with nonfluent aphasia often retain the ability to sing (Tomaino 312). Based on this fact, therapists have developed melodic intonation therapy (MIT) for treating patients with Broca’s aphasia. In one form of MIT, the therapist sings sentences to a tune familiar to the patient; in another version, the therapist sings familiar songs to the patient and lets the patient join in (313). The goal of these techniques is to encourage the patient to interact with the therapist by song, ultimately progressing through the course of the therapy to speech (313). MIT’s success in neurological music therapy stems partly from the unique characteristics of music itself that contribute to its particular suitability for aphasic patients. Nonfluent aphasia results from damage Broca’s area, the area of the brain that controls speech production. Broca’s area is located in the left hemisphere, which has the ability process “more rapidly modulated signals” than the right hemisphere (Norton et al. 435). Because of the damage sustained by the left hemisphere, aphasic patients often struggle to keep up with the speed of spokenwords. However, themusical aspect of MIT slows down the rate of words, moving the processing from the damaged left hemisphere to the right hemisphere (435). In addition, Norton et al. point out that “when words are sung, phonemes are isolated and thus, can be heard distinctly while remaining connected to the word,” giving aphasic patients time to process information mid- word and to plan their next syllable (436). The measured, rhythmic aspect of music contributes to MIT’s virtue as speech therapy. Neurologically, the efficacy of MIT arises from the strengthening of certain brain structures. In their article, Schlaug et al. list several brain regions active in the course of recovery from aphasia (385). These regions are connected with one another by a tract named the arcuate fasciculus (AF) (385). Each hemisphere contains an AF; however, the right hemisphere AF is naturally smaller and less developed than the AF in the left hemisphere (385). In the particular case of aphasia, left hemisphere damage often renders the left AF ineffective but leaves the weaker right AF untouched. In Schlaug et al.’s study, patients with aphasia showed significantly strengthened right AFs after concentrated treatment with MIT (385). This evidence suggests that “intense, long-term MIT leads to remodeling of the right AF”—the neurological basis for the positive results of MIT and music therapy (385). Through harnessing the brain’s incredible plasticity, neurological music therapy holds the potential to overcome the