Toward Music Medicine: A Framework for Music Features and Alzheimer’s Disease
Graded - The American School of São Paulo, Av. José Galante, 425 - Vila Andrade, São Paulo - SP, 05642-001
Abstract
The incidence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is rising rapidly, yet there aren’t definitive diagnostic methods or effective interventions that can treat AD. Growing evidence shows that music can influence the brain in a positive way, but music has often been treated as an undifferentiated whole, rather than examining its individual acoustic features. This review bridges disconnected literatures to examine how isolated acoustic features can influence biological mechanisms related to AD. We first review non-AD evidence, spanning from neuroimaging, clinical disorders (anxiety, depression, and epilepsy), and cellular/rodent models, proposing that individual acoustic features may produce differential neural and physiological effects. We then synthesize AD-relevant biological pathways, including Aβ and tau pathology, BDNF signaling, gene regulation via miR-132, and gamma oscillations. Finally, we propose three feature-pathway frameworks linking specific acoustic features to these biological pathways implied in AD. The evidence support levels of each pathway are asymmetrical, with rhythm showing the most direct evidence, while frameworks linking rhythm to BDNF and timbre to gamma oscillations remain more indirect and inferential. These frameworks are intended as a hypothetical conceptual map to guide future feature-isolation studies that aim toward developing more precise, non-pharmacological music interventions for AD.
Keywords
Keywords: Music medicine; acoustic feature; Alzheimer’s disease; music-based-interventions; music therapy; precision medicine
Introduction
Music-based interventions for Alzheimer’s disease are often studied as if music were a single stimulus. This review separates acoustic features and asks how they may connect to biological pathways implicated in the disease.
Conclusion
Rhythm currently has the most direct supporting evidence, while links from rhythm to BDNF and from timbre to gamma oscillations remain more inferential. The frameworks are offered as a map for future studies that isolate individual musical features.
How to Cite
Lee, Jueun. Toward Music Medicine: A Framework for Music Features and Alzheimer’s Disease. Journal of Youth Impact. September 2026; 1(Issue 3). DOI: https://doi.org/10.66245/jyi.v1.i3.006