D5.1. Keystroke

D5.1. Keystroke: In-Home Music-Based Interventions

Principal Investigator

Team Members: Jon Sanford, M.Arch., Martin Norgaard, Ph.D., Gil Weinberg, Ph.D.

Partners: Department of Occupational Therapy, Georgia State University., School of Music, Georgia State University., Center for Music Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology

Music-based interventions can be effective rehabilitation training for enhancing motor and cognitive functions and mental health. Although the interventions were traditionally delivered in clinical settings, mobile applications have created an opportunity to deliver the music-based interventions at home to increase patient rehabilitation access and decrease transportation costs. Building off our prior work, we are continuing to refine and evaluate a user-friendly, engaging, customizable, in-home music-based training app for individuals with stroke. We expect to demonstrate the feasibility and efficacy of our training app to improve functional outcomes of stroke survivors with upper extremity impairments. One of our longer-term goals is to provide the app with effective stroke-specific music exercises with integrated artificial intelligence (AI) to frequently adapt rehabilitation training based on an individual’s progress to provide the best home training needed for stroke survivors.

A stroke participant (middle in the pic) tested the music-based training app at the Georgia Tech lab with Dr. Martin Norgaard (left in the pic) and Dr. Yi-An Chen (Project PI, right in the pic).
A stroke participant practiced his upper extremities with the music-based training app at home.

Current Activities

  • Recruiting stroke participants for testing the feasibility and the effectiveness of the music-based training app
  • Refining the app based on participants’ feedback
  • Developing backend platforms for clinical and research analyses
  • Developing algorithms for kinematic camera for exercise monitoring and quality movement assessments 

Select Publications

  • Chen, Y.-A., & Norgaard, M. (2023). Important findings of a technology-assisted in-home music-based intervention for individuals with stroke: a small feasibility study. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology19(6), 2239–2249. https://doi.org/10.1080/17483107.2023.2274397
  • Tomlin, A., Archer, S., Warren, G., & Chen, Y.-A. (2021). The dose-response effectiveness of active music therapy for upper extremity stroke rehabilitation: a meta-analysis study. Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, 35(11), NP1-NP41. https://doi.org/10.1177/15459683211027047
  • Chen,Y.-A., & Norgaard,M. (2020). A home-based, mobile-health assisted piano therapy to improve upper extremity performance in stroke survivors: a pilot study. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 101(11), E50.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2020.09.148

Project Alumni

  • Molly Rowland, OTD
  • Erin Wooten, OTD
  • Annie Solomon, OTS
  • Sara Lynn Johnstone, OTS
  • Katie O’Brien, PhD
  • Nitin Hugar, MS
  • Saksham Jain, MS
  • Dhruv Pargai, MS