Archive for July, 2007
July 31st, 2007 20:07:19
The effect of vision and hearing loss on listeners’ perception of referential meaning in music.
| Related Articles |
The effect of vision and hearing loss on listeners’ perception of referential meaning in music.
J Music Ther. 2007;44(1):57-73
Authors: Darrow AA, Novak J
The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of vision and hearing loss on listeners’ perception of referential meaning in music. Participants were students at a state school for the deaf and blind, and students with typical hearing and vision who attended neighboring public schools (N = 96). The music stimuli consisted of six 37-second randomly ordered excerpts from Saint Saëns, Carnival of the Animals. The excerpts were chosen because of their use in similar studies and the composer’s clearly intended meaning conveyed in the titles of the excerpts. After allowing for appropriate procedural accommodations for participants with hearing or vision loss, all participants were asked to select the image portrayed by the music. A univariate ANOVA was computed to address the research question, “Do students with vision or hearing loss assign the same visual images to music as students without such sensory losses?” Data were analyzed to examine the effects of sensory condition as well as age and gender. A significant main effect was found for sensory condition, with follow up tests indicating that participants with typical hearing and vision agreed with the composer’s intended meaning significantly more often than did participants with vision or hearing loss. No significant main effects were found for gender or age, and no significant interactions were found. Summary data indicated that selected images were more easily identified, or were more difficult to identify across conditions. The data also revealed an order of difficulty and patterns of confusion that were similar across sensory conditions and ages, indicating participant responses were not random, and that some referential meaning in music is conventional.
PMID: 17419664 [PubMed - in process]
July 30th, 2007 22:07:01
The use of control groups in music therapy research: a content analysis of articles in the Journal of Music Therapy.
| Related Articles |
The use of control groups in music therapy research: a content analysis of articles in the Journal of Music Therapy.
J Music Ther. 2006;43(4):334-55
Authors: Jones JD
The use of a control group is fundamental to experimental research design, though the use with clinical populations must be carefully considered. The purpose of this research was to examine the use of control groups in research with clinical and nonclinical populations published in Journal of Musical Therapy from 1964 through 2004. Criteria for inclusion were music or music therapy as an independent variable applied to one or more groups and at least one control group that did not receive a music treatment. Control groups were qualified as alternative treatment, placebo, no contact, and treatment as usual. Of the 692 articles, 94 met these criteria, 62 clinical and 32 nonclinical, representing 13.5% of the publications. Results indicated that research with clinical populations involved a mean of 38.1 subjects typically divided into two groups, an experimental and a control group. The pretest-posttest design was the most common (55%) as was a treatment as usual control group (45%). These design methods maximized the impact of the experimental music treatment on outcome. Experimental music groups significantly improved over control groups in the vast majority of studies identified. Undoubtedly, the foundation for evidence-based clinical practice is firm.
PMID: 17348759 [PubMed - in process]
July 22nd, 2007 9:07:29
The role of music therapy in an interdisciplinary approach to address functional communication in complex neuro-communication disorders: a case report.
  |
Related Articles |
The role of music therapy in an interdisciplinary approach to address functional communication in complex neuro-communication disorders: a case report.
Disabil Rehabil. 2006 Oct 15;28(19):1221-9
Authors: Magee WL, Brumfitt SM, Freeman M, Davidson JW
PURPOSE: This paper presents a case report of collaborative work between speech and language therapy (SLT) and music therapy (MT) in the case of an individual presenting with complex communication difficulties and lability caused by pseudo-Parkinsonian vascular disease. DESIGN: MT intervention was used to investigate whether participation could be enabled in a client presenting with complex problems as well as facilitate change in communication parameters which remained unresponsive to conventional SLT intervention. A single case design measured communication and well-being parameters using pre-, during and post-intervention measures. In addition, analysis of the client’s musical responses was undertaken to examine changes in vocal functioning which are involved in communication. RESULTS: Analysis of the client’s performance during MT intervention revealed improvements in prosody and phonation, with positive reports of participation, reduced incidence of lability and improvements in measures of well-being. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate the value of such collaborative working in addition to making recommendations for the modification of existing treatment protocols. The findings highlight that fatigue is a major consideration when working with people with severe and complex clinical presentations.
PMID: 17005483 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
MegaSimple.com
848 N Rainbow Blvd #1289, Las Vegas, NV 89107 1.866.352.4346
support@megasimple.com