Alfredo Raglio

• PhD
• Head of Department at Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri Spa

This review focuses on randomized and clinical controlled trials regarding the use of music in workplaces. The paper represents a possible starting point to introduce a scientific approach in the use of music techniques in the occupational medicine, improving psychological and work performance outcomes. Some key points about the definition of music...

Music and music therapy are increasingly used in the context of rehabilitation medicine. By rehabilitation medicine we mean a multidisciplinary approach aimed at intervening on the limitations of motor, cognitive and emotional functions caused by degenerative and non-degenerative pathologies. These are personalised rehabilitation programmes aimed a...

The use of sound and music in the rehabilitation context is now supported by a lot of scientific evidence. The reiteration of tasks-oriented movements to functional recovery, typical of the rehabilitation training, can be effectively supported by adequate sonorous-music stimuli. This integration aims at introducing an audio-motor feedback, describi...

Background: The use of music in cognitive interventions represents a possibility with potential worthy of further investigation in the field of aging, both in terms of prevention from dementia, in the phase of mild cognitive impairment, and in the treatment of overt dementia. Objectives: Currently, the types of music-based interventions proposed in...

Background: Movement sonification has been recently introduced into the field of neuromotor rehabilitation alongside Neurologic Music Therapy and music-based interventions. This study introduces the use of musical auditory cues encompassing the melodic-harmonic aspect of music. Methods: Nineteen patients with Parkinson’s disease were randomly assig...

Music listening is widely used in therapeutic music-based interventions across various clinical contexts. However, relating the diverse and overlapping musical elements to their potential effects is a complex task. Furthermore, the considerable subjectivity of musical preferences and perceptual components of music, influenced by factors like cultur...

Music listening is widely used in therapeutic music-based interventions across various clinical contexts. However, relating the diverse and overlapping musical elements to their potential effects is a complex task. Furthermore, the considerable subjectivity of musical preferences and perceptual components of music, influenced by factors like cultur...

The therapeutic use of music is frequently based on active interventions that directly involve the patient through a sonorous-music interaction with the music therapist. In contrast, approaches based on musical listening are characterized by a relationship aimed at promoting an introspective work and processing of one’s emotional experiences. Incre...

Background Fibromyalgia patients can benefit from music approaches as complementary treatments. In the literature, it was shown that these interventions managed pain conditions as well as reduced complaints, increased relaxation, and improved moods.Objective This study aimed at evaluating music therapy, in the form of therapeutic music listening, s...

It is proven that music listening can have a therapeutic impact in many clinical fields. However, to assume a curative value, musical stimuli should have a therapeutic logic. This study aimed at assessing short-term effects of algorithmic music on cardiac autonomic nervous system activity. Twenty-two healthy subjects underwent a crossover study inc...

Introduction. This study explores how a background music-listening program within residential facilities for the elderly can influence the general environment and be effective on psychological and behavioral aspects. The feasibility of this type of intervention was explored. Methods and Materials. Twenty-nine residents involved in the experiment we...

This review aimed at exploring how music listening-based approach can be effective on physiological, cognitive and behavioural aspects, with specific reference to the domain of dementias. Music listening can be considered one of the most common approaches in dementia care, frequently in combination with other non-pharmacological treatments. This ty...

Music listening is a widespread approach in the field of music therapy. In this study, the effects of music listening on anxiety and stress in patients undergoing radiotherapy are investigated. Sixty patients with breast cancer who were candidates for postoperative curative radiotherapy were recruited and randomly assigned to three groups: Melomics...

Since ancient times there has been recognition of music's therapeutic powers, inherent in the properties of sound and its effects on human beings at a psychophysical level. Literature showed the development of therapeutic applications of music in numerous clinical settings. Music-listening itself can qualify as an effective therapeutic means within...

Music influences many physiological parameters, including some cardiovascular (CV) control indices. The complexity and heterogeneity of musical stimuli, the integrated response within the brain and the limited availability of quantitative methods for non-invasive assessment of the autonomic function are the main reasons for the scarcity of studies...

This study assessed the short-term effects of conventional (i.e., human-composed) and algorithmic music on the relaxation level. It also investigated whether algorithmic compositions are perceived as music and are distinguishable from human-composed music. Three hundred twenty healthy volunteers were recruited and randomly allocated to two groups w...

In this paper, we explore a generative music method that can compose atonal and tonal music in different styles. One of the main differences between regular engineering problems and artistic expressions is that goals and constraints are usually ill-defined in the latter case; in fact the rules here could or should be transgressed more regularly. Fo...

After a stroke event, most survivors suffer from arm paresis, poor motor control and other disabilities that make activities of daily living difficult, severely affecting quality of life and personal independence. This randomized controlled trial aimed at evaluating the efficacy of a music-based sonification approach on upper limbs motor functions,...

Background: Music and music therapy, live or recorded, has been gradually introduced in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of our Hospital in addition to standard medical and nursing care, to improve premature neonates’ neurophysiological development. The present study focused on music genres, starting from the parents’ sound experience and mu...

Background: Literature showed the effects of music therapy on behavioral disturbances, cognitive functions, and on quality of life in people with dementia. Especially, relational active music therapy approach is oriented to reduce behavioral disturbances increasing communication, especially non-verbal communication. Objective: This study aimed a...

For several decades, music has been used more and more frequently and consciously as a mean of care to reduce or stabilize symptoms and/or complications arising therefrom. This has been the case with several diseases and conditions. Indeed, music also gives pleasure, promotes well-being, facilitates the expression and regulation of emotions and imp...

Habilitation, rehabilitation and promotion of well-being is the ultimate goal of the occupational therapy process. Occupational therapy interventions take advantages from interdisciplinary approach, implying that classic rehabilitative models are constantly enhanced by updated evidences in rehabilitation literature and enriched with competences fro...

Music is one of the most complex human experiences because of its strong impact on emotion, behavior, cognition, and the autonomic nervous system. Despite the fact that all cultures have employed music as a tool for alleviating suffering and promoting well-being, only recently has music therapy been scientifically investigated. Music exerts various...

Background Music is widely used in clinical and rehabilitative fields and recently also in the field of Occupational Medicine. This review aims at selecting the evidence-based studies regarding music interventions in workplaces. Methods In order to carry out a narrative literature review, two independent pairs of investigators searched in PubMed a...

Background: The literature shows the effectiveness of music listening, but which factors and what types of music produce therapeutic effects, as well as how music therapists can select music, remain unclear. Here, we present a study to establish the main predictive factors of music listening's relaxation effects using machine learning methods. Me...

Background: Literature shows that music can reduce stress conditions. This pilot study investigated the effects of music listening on work-related stress and well-being in healthcare professionals. Method: A total of 45 subjects were randomly assigned to three treatment groups: No Music, Individualized Music and Melomics-Health Listening. Music...

Musical sonification therapy is a new technique that can reinforce conventional rehabilitation treatments by increasing therapy intensity and engagement through challenging and motivating exercises. Aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and validity of the SonicHand protocol, a new training and assessment method for the rehabilitation of...

AIM: to investigate the influence of different music genres on Heart Rate Variability (HRV) of preterm infants. HRV has been previously used to evaluate autonomic nervous system fluctuations in heart rate related to maturation in healthy neonates and in neonates with pathological conditions. This parameter has been used to show how music could imp...

Motivation is an important topic in rehabilitation and frequently used as a determinant of rehabilitation outcome. Several factors can influence patient motivation and so improve exercise adherence. This paper presents some techniques to improve patient motivation and maximize outcome during technology-assisted rehabilitation. In particular, we pre...

Background: Music therapy (MT) interventions are aimed at creating and developing a relationship between patient and therapist. However, there is a lack of validated observational instruments to consistently evaluate the MT process. Aim: The purpose of this study was the validation of Music Therapy Session Assessment Scale (MT-SAS), designed to...

Guidelines in stroke rehabilitation recommend the use of a multidisciplinary approach. Different approaches and techniques with music are used in the stroke rehabilitation to improve motor and cognitive functions but also psychological outcomes. In this randomized controlled pilot trial, relational active music therapy approaches were tested in the...

Objectives: This review focuses on randomized and clinical controlled trials regarding the use of music in workplaces. Methods: The paper represents a possible starting point to introduce a scientific approach in the use of music techniques in the occupational medicine, improving psychological and work performance outcomes. Results: Some key p...

This randomized controlled study assessed the efficacy of active music therapy (AMT) on anxiety, depression, and quality of life in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Communication and relationship during AMT treatment were also evaluated. Thirty patients were assigned randomly to experimental [AMT plus standard of care (SC)] or control (SC) grou...

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurological disorder involving the progressive degeneration of the dopaminergic system, which gives rise to movement-related dysfunctions (such as bradykinesia, tremor, and rigidity) as well as other symptoms, mainly of cognitive and psychological nature. In the latter case, mood disorders prevails frequently causing...

Objectives To assess the effects of active music therapy (MT) and individualized listening to music (LtM) on behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSDs) in persons with dementia (PWDs).DesignRandomized controlled trial.SettingNine Italian institutions.ParticipantsPersons with moderate to severe dementia and BPSDs (N = 120) were random...

In the last years we could find many uses of music in different clinical settings, also in the field of neurology. In this field empirical results, but also scientific studies, showed the efficacy of music interventions on psychological, cognitive and motor aspects. This is consistent with strong effects of music on brain areas. Music can stimulate...

The aim of this research is to evaluate the effects of active music therapy (MT) based on free-improvisation (relational approach) in addition to speech language therapy (SLT) compared to speech language therapy alone (communicative-pragmatic approach, PACE) in stroke patients with chronic aphasia. The experimental group (n = 10) was randomized to...

The aim of this study was to investigate the neurophysiological bases of Active Music Therapy (AMT) and its effects on the normal brain. Twelve right-handed, healthy, non-musician volunteers were recruited. The subjects underwent 2 AMT sessions based on the free sonorous-music improvisation using rhythmic and melodic instruments. After these sessio...

Mood disorder and depressive syndromes represent a common comorbid condition in neurological disorders with a prevalence rate that ranges between 20% and 50% of patients with stroke, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease. Notwithstanding, these conditions are often under-diagnosed and under-treated in the clinical practice and negat...

Aim of the study: To review the modalities of cognitive rehabilitation (CR), outcome endpoints, and the levels of evidence of efficacy of different interventions. Methods: A systematic research in Pubmed, Psychinfo, and SCOPUS was performed assessing the articles written in the entire period covered by these databases till December 2013. Article...

Dear Sirs,Disorders of Consciousness (DoC) represent a serious difficulty for caring interventions and they are a diagnostic, clinical and rehabilitative problem [1]. In the last few years, great attention has been developed towards rehabilitative treatments and protocols of different interventions to better define improvements and variations of th...

Music is an important resource for achieving psychological, cognitive, and social goals in the field of dementia. This paper describes the different types of evidence-based music interventions that can be found in literature and proposes a structured intervention model (global music approach to persons with dementia, GMA-D). The literature concerni...

This study assesses the effect of music listening on the reduction of pain perception in a random pediatric population undergoing skin prick test (SPT) using a therapeutic system based on an innovative technology (Melomics music medicine, or M3). A randomized controlled trial was implemented by randomly assigning 72 children (mean age = 8.87) to ei...

This study reviews the most recent (from 2000 to 2011) Clinical Controlled Trials (CCT) and Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) concerning the use of music and music-therapy (MT) in the context of dementia and related issues. Studies which explored the efficacy of music and MT on behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are prevalent...

Introduction The human brain is exquisitely sensitive to musical stimuli. This critical review aims to include concepts of music therapy and resume studies regarding the use of music and music therapy in neuromotor rehabilitation. Materials and methods We analysed the main published literature about neuroscientific bases of therapy with music and c...

the autonomic nervous system plays an important role in the control of cardiac function. It has been suggested that sound and music may have effects on the autonomic control of the heart inducing emotions, concomitantly with the activation of specific brain areas, i.e. the limbic area, and they may exert potential beneficial effects. this study is...

This study reviews the most recent (from 2000 to 2011) Clinical Controlled Trials (CCT) and Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) concerning the use of music and music-therapy (MT) in the context of dementia and related issues. Studies which explored the efficacy of music and MT on behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are prevalent...

This article review includes the controlled and randomized controlled trials about the use of music and music therapy techniques in the neuromotor rehabilitation. The paper defines the music therapy and delineates the neuroscientific bases and rehabilitative potential of music and music therapy interventions. Significant results are present in the...

The aim of this paper is to provide further detail about the results of a randomised controlled study published in this journal (Raglio et al., 2010, 14, 900-904), in which we assessed the efficacy of music therapy (MT) on the behavioural disturbances in people with moderate-severe dementia. Sixty patients were randomly assigned to the experimental...

Playing music may involve different cognitive domains, but previous studies of musicians and patients with brain lesions have reported inconsistent associations between music performances and other cognitive functions. Fine musical performance may be associated with high executive and control functions. 21 skilled musicians and 21 age- and educatio...

Background: Music therapy (MT) has been proposed as valid approach for behavioral and psychologic symptoms (BPSD) of dementia. However, studies demonstrating the effectiveness of this approach are lacking.

This study presents a tool (Music Therapy Rating Scale [MTRS]) to evaluate the progression of the relationship between the patient and the therapist during music therapy sessions. The rating scale was developed from an intersubjective framework and from an improvisational music therapy technique. It mainly consists of two behavioral classes: non-ve...

Autism is a pathology in which the communicative and relational deficit is quite clear. After giving an up-to-date general view to the nosographic aspects and to the interpretative models of the Autistic Disorder, the authors focus on an improvisational music therapy approach in an intersubjective theoretical perspective. Coherently, with the theor...

We assessed the effects of music therapy (MT) on behavioral and psychological symptoms (BPSD) in dementia associated with changes in physiological parameters, as heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV). Twenty subjects were randomly assigned to MT treatment or standard care; all patients underwent neuropsychological assessment and ECG Holt...

We undertook a randomised controlled trial to assess whether a music therapy (MT) scheme of administration, including three working cycles of one month spaced out by one month of no treatment, is effective to reduce behavioural disturbances in severely demented patients. Sixty persons with severe dementia (30 in the experimental and 30 in the contr...

L'articolo pone l'attenzione sulla necessitŕ di individuare una possibile cornice teorica per la musicoterapia. In merito a ciň propone una possibile integrazione tra la prospettiva intersoggettiva e la libera improvvisazione sonoro-musicale. Gli Autori individuano in alcuni concetti chiave, quali ad esempio quelli di "sintonizzazione affettiva", "...

This contribution focuses on the definition of music therapy as a specific applicative context to be seen as distinct from the generic use of music in a variety of pathologies. Music therapy is presented as a discipline grounded both upon relationship and upon the theoretical-methodological principles peculiar to each applicative model. The therape...

Music therapy (MT) has been proposed as valid approach for behavioral and psychologic symptoms (BPSD) of dementia. However, studies demonstrating the effectiveness of this approach are lacking. To assess MT effectiveness in reducing BPSD in subjects with dementia. Fifty-nine persons with dementia were enrolled in this study. All of them underwent a...

The Music Therapy Checklist is useful for music therapists to monitor and evaluate the music therapeutic process. A list of different types of behaviors were selected based on results derived from applying the Music Therapy Coding Scheme. The use of a checklist to code the events with a recording method based on 1-min. intervals allows observation...

This study presents a coding system for observation and monitoring of changes in the interactive behaviour between patient and therapist during music therapy sessions. The coding scheme was developed from a psychodynamic framework and mainly consists of four behavioural classes: Verbal Communication, Nonverbal Communication, Countenance, and Sonoro...

Objective: This work focuses its attention on the observation and evaluation of the process and the outcome of music therapy treatment in moderate-severe dementia. The music therapy treatment will be eventually analyzed to prove its effectiveness from the cognitive, functional and behavioural point of view. Method: 8 patients (6 affected by Alzheim...

Conclusions: The outcome confirms the assumption that music therapy treat- ment, together with these criteria of evaluation, can improve communication and relationship skills and reduce behaviour disorders in patients affected by moderate-severe dementia.

Music-therapy has undertaken a systematization process, which is going to increase its scientificity level. This involves important considerations regarding both the theoretical and the applicative levels, deriving from a severe effort intended to make the relationship between theory and practice more coherent as well as to present scientific resea...

Music can be used as a healer in many diseases, although with different techniques, methods and theoretical issues. Recently, particularly in the last decade, even dementias have been an object of concern for musicotherapy and other healing practices involving sound and music. The increasing number of Alzheimer's diseases and dementias affected peo...