WFRV/HealthWatch: Lifting brain fog with virtual music therapy

Patients who have been infected with COVID-19 or who have gone through medical treatment like chemotherapy often report brain fog, described as issues with thinking, remembering or focusing.

University of Cincinnati researchers led by Soma Sengupta, MD, PhD, associate professor and Harold C. Schott Endowed Chair of Molecular Therapeutics in the Department of Neurology and a UC Health neuro-oncologist; and Claudia Rebola, PhD, associate dean for research, associate professor and director of the new Center for DAAP Research and Innovation (CDRI) on Health and Wellbeing in the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, are leading a pilot study examining music therapy's effect on brain fog through a mobile app.

Patients in the study are assigned to groups that either listen to music or actively make their own music through the app.

“These technologies are sort of in a way helping the rewiring and exercising areas of the brain that normally wouldn’t do it,” Sengupta told WFRV's HealthWatch.

Watch the HealthWatch story.

Read more about the study.

Featured photo of ARMCan app in use courtesy of Claudia Rebola, PhD.