Effects of Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation Using Music on Gait With Stroke Patients

This study aimed to determine the effects of Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) using music and a metronome on the gait of stroke patients. 13 female and 15 male volunteers were randomly allocated to two groups: namely a group to receive RAS using music and a metronome group (the experimental group; $n_1=14$) and a group to receive RAS using a metronome only (the control group; $n_2=14$). The affected side was the left side in 15 subjects and the right side in 13 subjects. The mean age of the subjects was 56.6 years, and the mean onset duration of stroke was 8.6 months. Intervention was applied for 30 minutes per session, once a day, 5 times a week for 4 weeks. To measure the patients' gait improvement, we measured gait velocity, cadence, stride length, double limb support using GAITRite, body center sway angle using an accelerometer, and Timed Up-and-Go test. Functional Gait Assessment were conducted before and after the experiment. The paired t-test was used for comparisons before and after the interventions in each group. Analysis of covariance was used for comparisons between the groups after the interventions. Statistical significance was set at ${\alpha}=.05$. Within each of the two groups, significant differences in all of the dependent variables before and after the experiment (p<.05) were observed. However, in the comparison between the two groups, the experimental group showed more significant improvements in all dependent variables than the control group (p<.05). Our results also suggest that in applying RAS in stroke patients, the combination of music and a metronome is more effective than using a metronome alone in improving patients' gait.