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Music after a stroke: what the evidence says
Published September 9, 2026 · by Rhea Persaud
Rhythm can reach movement and speech when other routes are slow. A plain-language look at why.
Rhythmic auditory stimulation is among the better-evidenced areas of music therapy. Walking to a steady beat can improve gait where other approaches have stalled.
For speech, melodic intonation therapy takes advantage of the fact that singing and speaking do not use identical pathways — which is why someone who cannot say a sentence can sometimes sing one.
Progress is gradual and it is not universal. But it is real, and it is measurable.