Could the music you listen to impact on your epilepsy? If you’re listening to classical or jazz music, well, read on.
For people with epilepsy, the relationship with music can be complex. A rare disorder called musicogenic epilepsy appears to trigger music-induced seizures. By contrast, studies have shown that specific musical patterns have the potential to help control seizures. This is called the ‘Mozart effect’.
A new study found that the brains of people with epilepsy react differently to the sound of music. Researchers hope the findings could lead to new therapies to prevent seizures.
“We believe that music could potentially be used as an intervention to help people with epilepsy,” said Christine Charyton, PhD, adjunct assistant professor and visiting assistant professor of neurology at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, who presented the research at the American Psychological Association’s 123rd Annual Convention.
Temporal Lobe Epilepsy And Music
Most epilepsy cases – approximately 80 percent – are temporal lobe epilepsy. Dostoyevsky, the 19th-century Russian novelist, who himself had epilepsy, gave vivid accounts of apparent temporal lobe seizures in his novel The Idiot, according to the Epilepsy Foundation.
“He remembered that during his epileptic fits, or rather immediately preceding them, he had always experienced a moment or two when his whole heart, and mind, and body seemed to wake up with vigor and light.” What happened next were inexpressible presentiments preceding the seizure followed by unconsciousness – black darkness blotting out everything.
For temporal lobe epilepsy the seizures appear to originate in the same region of the brain where music is processed. This fuelled researchers’ interest in studying the effect of music on the brains of people with epilepsy.
Recording Brainwave Patterns
Charyton and her colleagues recorded brainwave patters using an electroencephalogram, collecting data from 21 patients who were in the epilepsy monitoring unit at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center between September 2012 and May 2014.
The researchers recorded brainwave patterns during three sessions of 10 minutes of silence broken by either Mozart’s “Sonata in D Major, Andante Movement II (K448)” or saxophonist John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things”.
Music: A Double-Edged Sword
Significantly higher levels of brainwave activity in participants when they were listening to some groove were reported. Brainwave activity in people with epilepsy tended to “synchronize” more with the music, notably in the temporal lobe, than in people without the condition, researchers said.
“We were surprised by the findings,” said Charyton. “We hypothesized that music would be processed in the brain differently than silence. We did not know if this would be the same or different for people with epilepsy.”
This is not the first time music has been hailed as a successful intervention in conjunction with traditional treatment to help prevent seizures in people with epilepsy. Music is thought to trigger seizures in some people or help to reduce them in others.
The Mozart Effect
However, the therapeutic effect of music has been narrowly explored in relation to epilepsy. Research tends to focus around Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D major, according to the Epilepsy Society (UK).
Scientific studies have suggested that the sonata may have a positive impact on brain activity and may induce short-term improvements in certain cognitive abilities. “More recent studies have shown that the piece may also be beneficial for people with epilepsy”.
What do you think of certain types of music benefiting people with epilepsy? Share your views in the comments section below.
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Mozart Effect: How Music Helps People With Epilepsy
