Can Music Help Us Age Better?

Music may be the key to early discovery and treatment of mental decline in elderly adults. An interdisciplinary team of TAU researchers and industry partners devised a low-cost, non-invasive test that uses music to detect cognitive deterioration earlier and more simply than existing techniques.

Dr. Neta Maimon, of TAU’s School of Psychological Sciences and Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, co-led the initiative as an employee of the corporation Neurosteer, founded by TAU’s Prof. Nathan Intrator.

“Our method can identify issues before symptoms appear, which is the stage when current medicines are the most effective at slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s or dementia,” explains Maimon, a cellist and musical cognition specialist. “It could improve the quality of life of millions amid increasing longevity and growing elderly populations.”

The 12-15 minute test involved attaching portable electrical sensors to the subjects’ foreheads to measure