Fight Parkinson’s has contributed to the body of evidence for ParkinSong™, through our involvement in ParkinSong™: A Controlled Trial of Singing-Based Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease, published in the Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair Journal in May 2019.
ParkinSong™ is an activity-based peer support program involving vocal warm-up and exercise, practical communication activities, group singing and social engagement that commenced in Williamstown in 2013 with the support of Fight Parkinson’s.
The research trial found ParkinSong™ participants made a statistically significant improvement in:
- vocal intensity (voice loudness)
- maximum expiratory pressure (respiratory strength)
- voice-related quality of life (more positive perceptions about their voice and communication).
The study was conducted in 2015-16, funded by the Hugh Williamson Foundation, Fight Parkinson’s and Melbourne University.
In a controlled trial, a proportion of the 75 participants attended ParkinSong™ and the control participants attended other groups such as regular Parkinson’s Peer Support groups, Tai Chi groups, dancing groups or Painting with Parkinson’s groups.
Benefits were evident at the 3-month point of the study and maintained at 12 months. The more frequent the singing group participation, the more significant the improvement.
The study concluded that high dosage (weekly), therapeutically informed, intensive effort singing increased vocal intensity, MEP, and voice-related quality of life.
