Design Thinking behind the Smart Walking Sticks:

MP3 version is recommended for elderly, especially those who are struggling with Dementia or Alzheimer's Disease.  

Listening to music is a big part of music therapy.  Music therapy uses music to help promote the good cognitive functioning of the brain. Through music therapy, elderly adults can fight depression, express emotions, improve their listening and comprehension, promote good memory, concentration and improve their verbal and social skills. 

 

Oliver Sacks, MD, Neurologist: Discusses the impact of personalized music on people suffering from Alzheimer’s and severe memory loss.

“ Music evokes emotion, and emotion can bring with it memory… it brings back the feeling of life when nothing else can.”

 

Andrew Budson, MD, Neurologist, Boston University Alzheier’s Disease Center

believes there are 2 theories to explain the effects of music on people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

1. Music has emotional content and can trigger emotional memories, which are some of the more powerful memories that we have.
2. When we learn music, we store the knowledge as procedural memory. Procedural memory is associated with routines and repetitive activities. As dementia progresses, episodic memory is destroyed but procedural memory is largely left intact.

 

Dan Cohen, Exe Director of Music & Memory, Social Worker
Advocates for the use of music therapy with dementia patients

“The end goal is not just the music, the end goal is about relationship …and music is use to accelerate it.”