A new study recently published in epilepsy medical journal, Epilepsia, has further investigated what is known as "The Mozart Effect" and it's potential impact in epilepsy.
"The Mozart Effect" is something that first came to the fore in 1993 when a study found that listening to Mozart's piece "Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K.448" (K.448) reported an increase in spatial reasoning ability - meaning that a person was able to perform better in certain mental tasks.
The effect has been further investigated in a range of fields over the past number of decades - including epilepsy.
The latest study in relation to epilepsy emanates from Canada from the Krembil Brain Institute and set out to investigate whether daily listening to Mozart's could present a reduction in seizure frequency.
The study involved 13 people with epilepsy over the course of a year. These were then split into two groups. One group listened daily to K.448 for 3 months followed by listening daily to a randomly scrambled piece of music for the next 3 months.
The second group first listened to the scrambled piece for 3 months followed by K.448 for the next 3 months. The groups kept seizure diaries to record their seizures and their medications remained unchanged throughout the period.
When investigated further, the findings showed a decrease in seizures associated with the period of daily listening to K.448.
Commenting on the findings of the study, lead author of the study Dr. Marjan Rafiee said, "Our results showed daily listening to the first movement of Mozart K.448 was associated with reducing seizure frequency in adult individuals with epilepsy. This suggests that daily Mozart listening may be considered as a supplemental therapeutic option to reduce seizures in individuals with epilepsy."
While positive findings were reported, the study authors have noted that further research is required to investigate this further and wider.
More on this study can be found by visiting the 'Online Wiley Library' website and we've also included Mozart's K448 with this article so you can have a listen.
As always, Epilepsy Ireland will continue to monitor all emerging epilepsy research and update our website & social media channels with same.