Music Listening for Mental Health Recovery After Stroke

Recruiting now · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Stroke

In brief

This study aims to explore whether listening to music intentionally can support the mental health of people recovering from a stroke. The question the investigators aim to answer is: Can intentional music listening improve emotional well-being in stroke survivors? And if so, what kinds of changes might music listening induce in mental health, thinking and memory (cognition), and brain activity? Participants will be randomly assigned to listen to either music or an audiobook for one hour each day, at home, for four weeks. Participants will also attend four in-person sessions with the researchers: at the start of the study (baseline), just before the listening period begins, after the four weeks are complete, and at a follow-up. During these visits, researchers will gather information about participants' mood and mental health (via questionnaires), assess memory and attention (via cognitive tasks), and use MRI scans to look at brain activity.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT07127159

Run by

New York University

People needed

60

Starts

2025-07-01

Expected to finish

2026-09-30

Last updated by the study team

2025-09-25

Who can join

Age: 50 and older, up to 90. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Participants aged 50 to 90
• Confirmed diagnosis of ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke occurring at least six months prior to enrollment.

You may not qualify if…

• Significant hearing loss, defined by a score >26 on the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly Screening (HHIE-S; Ventry and Weinstein, 1982)
• Contraindications for MRI
• Significant cognitive impairment, defined as a Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA; Nasreddine et al., 2005) score below 22 (unless the lower score is attributable to expressive aphasia)
• Specific musical anhedonia, defined as a score below 60 on the Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire (BMRQ; Mas-Herrero et al., 2013)
• Amusia, defined as a score below 70% on the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA; Peretz et al., 2003).
• Participants will not be excluded if currently taking medications that may affect brain function (e.g., antidepressants) or if engaged in other complementary therapies (e.g., mindfulness, yoga). Participants will be allowed to initiate new medications or therapies during the study period.

Where it is running

• New York University — New York, New York, United States (enrolling)

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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