According to Canadian researchers, listening to Mozart’s musical works on a daily basis might be effective enough to reduce seizure frequency among people with epilepsy.
The study, released in the journal Epilepsia Open, is distinct from past research studies over the last two decades testing the effects of Mozart on individuals suffering from epilepsy.
“In this study, we compared the effect on seizure frequency of daily listening to either Mozart K.448 or a spectrally similar, yet non‐rhythmic control piece,” the authors explained in their report.
“We hypothesized that there would be no difference in seizure counts when participants listened to Mozart K.448 vs when they listened to the control piece.”
As part of their study, a sizable number of participants were given musical pieces by Mozart to listen to on a daily basis for a span of three months. “Each participant was exposed to both three months of daily listening to the first six minutes of Sonata for two pianos in D major by Mozart and three months of daily listening to phase‐scrambled version,” the authors also emphasized.
“There was a three‐month baseline and a three‐month follow‐up period before and after the six‐month listening period, respectively.”
The results showed that listening to the first movement of Mozart K.448 on a daily basis may be linked to a considerable reduction in seizure frequency among the epileptic participants.
In light of these findings, the authors suggest that listening to Mozart on a daily schedule might induce some beneficial effects associated with lessening the frequency of seizures. However, more research is warranted.
“Like all research, ours raises a lot of questions that we are excited to continue to answer with further research and support from the epilepsy community,” affirmed Taufik Valiante, the study’s senior author.
