Throughout this semester, I’ve indulged myself in researching more about the topics surrounding multisensory rooms. After a few months, the specific tools and techniques that require music really piqued my interest. Therefore, I spent the last few weeks researching music theory, how it works, its effects, down to its very origin. 

Learning that music theory began from the research on songbirds and how they use music and a specific part of their brains to re-remember the songs they sing every season, I plan to read a lot more sources involving research on songbirds and how they related to the part of our brain affected by Alzheimer’s. 

https://www.karger.com/Article/Fulltext/447048

https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/what-happens-brain-alzheimers-disease#:~:text=In%20Alzheimer’s%20disease%2C%20as%20neurons,significant%20loss%20of%20brain%20volume.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2650497/

Through the next few months of summer break, to understand how we could potentially use music to “heal” a human brain, I plan to read more of these papers that talk about how different brain diseases affect the brain. 

This week I worked on researching the specifics of how music affects our brain, in terms of psychologically and emotionally. Several blogs and papers piqued my interest.

https://www.aimm.edu/blog/how-does-music-affect-your-mood

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3741536/

https://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/your-brain-on-music/

https://www.sclhealth.org/blog/2019/04/how-listening-to-certain-songs-can-impact-our-brain-and-affect-our-mood/

It’s common knowledge that music has a possibility of increasing dopamine levels in the brain which is the cause of one feeling happy/good when listening to the music that they love. From one of the sources, it is stated that the type of music that you like is the type of music that your gray matter likes as well, so music therapy is more of a person-by-person therapy.

However, from my research, I believe the best way to simplify how music therapy works on the brain is that music allows for the increase of neurogenesis within the hippocampus, which is the center of production and retrieval of memories, while also regulating our emotional responses. When a patient is affected by Alzheimer’s disease, this is the first section of the brain affected. 

One of the interesting side research topics that seemed interesting was the research about seasonal songbirds and how they sing different songs according to the different seasons, while their neurons regenerate and they learn the songs all over again over the months.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC44498/

These two weeks I mainly focused on exploring the field of music therapy and finding out exactly how things work. I primarily referred to a couple of research papers on the effect music has on biological, psychological, and its role in nonverbal communication. 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31812993/

This is one of the papers that really interested me. 

The study focuses on patients in the older age group who has dementia, a condition in which patients experiences episodes of memory, communication, and thinking impairment. Current solutions include these patients taking medication known as Cholinesterase inhibitors, which increases the level of chemical messengers during thinking or communication. 

The results of the study weren’t exactly the cure for dementia but rather a daily treatment that in a way suppresses the symptoms of dementia. In conclusion, they came to the realization that music could be one of the ways for communication in patients who are experiencing dementia. 

I think one of the areas that could potentially be researched further is the question of “Is it possible to make music in a way that would completely treat a patient?” Further research is needed for what type of music and instruments trigger hormones and chemical signals in the brain and body, however, it could be a possible addition to the multisensory environment field. 

In the weeks following, I plan to try to research on PubMed and other scientific research sites about any possible current research on the different types of music inhibiting or activating chemical signals within the brain. 

This week I introduced the Rhino UK website and business to the VIP Team, Amy, and the others. During the week, I managed to research more on the different approaches and methods when it comes to music therapy for a psychological issue regarding uses within the multisensory room. 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301619435_The_impact_of_music_activities_in_a_multisensory_room_for_children_with_multiple_disabilities_on_developing_positive_emotions_a_case_study

https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/TLDR-10-2019-0029/full/html

During the meeting, Amy introduced several potential options for research and further information regarding the music therapy major and educational paths. 

https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/programs/music-technology

https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/programs/music-therapy

In the next week, I plan to explore the potential options when it comes to specific methods using different genres of music within music therapy. One thing I found via a quick google search is that there are multiple types of music therapy from singing, playing instruments, and many other music-related activities.

This week during the meeting I discussed that I would be interested to research further about the business side of the industry of sensory rooms. Further research might be needed in order to understand the functions and machinery that are used within sensory rooms.

Amy talked about sensory rooms that were focused on using music and that it is not really seen within the market, therefore I would like to explore further into the use of music in multisensory rooms.  During the meeting, I pulled out several websites on different businesses and how they approach this issue. 

https://www.rhinouk.com/rooms/multisensory-room/

One example was Rhino UK, a company that provides a wide range of varied sensory rooms each focusing on different things and subjects.

For the next two weeks, I decided to indulge myself in learning more about how businesses advertise and learn how to use sensory rooms efficiently as a treatment for different psychological symptoms.