University-led choir helps people get their voice back
People who have had a stroke and live with other neurological conditions benefit from the choir Photo cred: Cardiff Met
A community choir is helping people who have had strokes and live with other neurological conditions to get their voices back.
The choir is held once a week at Cardiff Metropolitan University and is aimed at helping people with Aphasia.
Aphasia a condition which causes a person to have difficulty with their spoken and written language and can be the result of a stroke, a traumatic brain injury, brain tumour, or dementia and currently affects over 350,000 people in the UK, according to the Stroke Association.
The choir is an aphasia-friendly environment using resources such as presentations that display song lyrics, using picture support and highlighting the key words of each line to encourage engagement in the sessions.
It started as a pilot project from February to April 2024 and demonstrated several benefits to patients, including increased mood and perceived improvements for their conditions.
Esther Goodhew, Speech and Language Therapist at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board was responsible for first setting up the aphasia-friendly choir and said: “There is a growing research base which shows how singing can help in rehabilitation for people with communication difficulties.
“Participants have told us that they can find singing easier than speaking; this may be because we process music and singing on the right side of our brain, whereas our language centres are located on the left side of our brain.”
It is a collaborative project between C, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and Chroma Music Therapy which has now received funding from The Tavistock Trust for Aphasia to continue in 2025.
Katie Earing is a Clinical Senior Lecturer of Speech & Language Therapy at Cardiff Met University said the choir could help in many ways including “reducing social isolation, increasing confidence and improved well-being”.
She continued: “Singing collaboratively creates a safe and supported communication environment, allowing those with long term communication impairments to share experiences, rebuild social networks and become engaged and embedded within their community.”
The choir is held weekly at the Speech and Language Therapy Clinic at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Llandaff campus.
You can learn more about aphasia by visiting the Stroke Association website.
