Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Audiobooks as medicine?

Ran across an intriguing post on audiobooks today...here's an excerpt: "Scientific research on recovery after a stroke showed that audiobooks significantly improved sensory memory and resulted in higher cognitive function. I’d be interested to see this University of Helsinki study replicated with Alzheimer’s patients. The findings mirror much of the research done on the positive impact of audiobooks in literacy development of students." 
Having had a decades long interest in the power of books to heal emotionally, this was an inspiring bit of news about the power of narrative to heal physically. It should be noted that the study referred to in this post also used music to help post-stroke victims. The research cited is: Sarkamo, T. Pihko, E. Kaitinen, S. Forsblom, A., Soinila, S. Mikkonen, M., Autti, T. Silvennoinen, H.M., Kerkkila, J, Laine, M. Peretz, I, Hietanan, M. Tervaniemi, M. "Music and speech listening enhance th recovery of early sensory processing after stroke." Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 2010 Dec;22(12):2716-27.

A link to the article is here.

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