Watch – iPod heals Dementia Patients in a clip from Alive Inside
- Music Junction
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
Alive Inside is a documentary that follows social worker Dan Cohen as he creates personalized iPod playlists for people in elder care facilities, hoping to reconnect them with the music they love. Despondent patients come back to life after listening to familiar songs that they connect with. Long lost past memories come back to them. Their mood is lifted and they become more conversational. In this clip one of the patients receiving the music therapy, Henry, is asked “What does music do to you?” He replies, “It gives me the feeling of love; romance; I figure right now the world needs to come into music, singing. You’ve got beautiful music here – beautiful, oh, lovely. I feel the band of love and dreams.” Before listening to music, Henry was not responding to interaction at his nursing home, and normally sat with his head bent forward, covering his face with his hands. His stories and others are documented in Alive Inside.
“My goal has been to find ways of bringing the cost down to zero,” says Cohen on NPR last year. “Since there have been so many generations of new digital devices that come fast and furious, we have the old iPods — many of us in our drawers at home — so let’s bring them in. On Long Island, there are five school districts that are running iPod donation drives.”
Get the playlist right. Find out the person’s tastes and create a varied mix: no more than five to seven songs per artist. Have them weed out tracks that are so-so, so you end up with 100 or 200 songs that all resonate.
Keep it simple. Make sure the elder knows how to use the player, or that someone nearby can help. Use over-ear headphones rather than earbuds, which can fall out.
Be patient. It can take time to reach the music memory. If the person is responding, feel free to sing along. If someone doesn’t like the headphones, try a small speaker at first and incorporate the headphones gradually over time.
Keep it special. Don’t leave the player on all the time. Nursing homes are finding it works well during transitions: If someone is hesitant to take a bath or eat or get dressed, music may help move things along.
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