Musical Engagement of Brain LObes in Alzheimer's Disease Patients StudY

This is a randomized, cross-over study to measure global and clinical impact and level of arousal in subjects suffering from moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease when exposed to emotionally impactful music compared to control intervention.

In partnership with the study partner (a person who spends 10 hours or more a week with the subject and can reliably report on the subject's condition), three tunes will be chosen for the purposes of the study. The tunes chosen will need to be related to a past meaningful, positive experience of the subject, as determined by the subject and the subject's study partner. The pieces will be restricted in duration to between 1.5 and 2 minutes each. A piece will be chosen at random and will be saved on a portable device, and subjects will be asked to listen to the melody using high quality, over-ear headphones. The total exposure time will be 10 minutes each hour over a three-hour period. The melody will be repeated as many times as necessary to complete the 10-minute period. The control intervention will involve listening to nature sounds at the same duration and administration scheme. Functional magnetic resonance imaging will be used to identify how brain networks are modulated via exposure to this music and how they associate with the clinical findings.