Music app for dementia patients bags Google.org funding

An app that unlocks the therapeutic potential of music for people living with dementia will receive $2 million in grant funding and support from Google’s philanthropic arm, to develop wearable sensors and AI-enabled music adaptive systems and undertake a pilot in Australia.

MATCH (Music Attuned Technology – Care via eHealth) aims to address the agitation that can occur in dementia patients when emotional and physical needs go unmet, detecting early signs of agitation behaviours and providing music-based interventions to regulate mood and reduce the likelihood of developing, or the severity of, challenging behaviours.

University of Melbourne Professor Felicity Baker, principal investigator of the MATCH project, said the app has the potential to provide a practical and personalised tool to support dementia patients.

“By combining the known therapeutic benefits of the patients’ personally preferred music with wearable sensor technology and AI that creates a bespoke music adaptive system, we will be able to provide early detection and treatment of agitation.”

The Australian Government’s Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety recommended every Australian aged care provider provide access to music and art therapy for people in their care by July 2024. Due to limitations on the number of therapists, this recommendation is expected to go unmet, according to the University of Melbourne.

The app’s AI system will learn each person’s own unique agitation behaviours and positive music interventions, through an improving cycle of detection and interpretation making use of wearable sensors, observation, analysis and music treatment. The dementia patient’s preferred music will adapt to synchronise and treat their agitation.

“Even the smallest change in agitation reduces care costs per person, and will reduce the need to use pharmacological interventions that can increase confusion and have other side effects.”

The project consists of a training package app for caregivers with curated lists of music to enable targeted music interventions to support care, of which a prototype app has already been developed; and the music-adaptive system being developed with funding from Google.org.

“The music-adaptive system will be integrated within this app. We are looking for residential aged care homes, and people living with dementia at home, to come forward and be involved in testing our app prototype and the development of the music-adaptive system,” Baker added.

The University of Melbourne’s Prof Lars Kulik, leading the development of the app’s AI and the integration of sensor data, said the grant will see the technology developed and introduced in Australia before being expanded globally.

“We will be able to develop a device, similar to a smartwatch, that can monitor movement, heart rate and other biomarkers. Should it detect signs of agitation, the app will play music from a curated playlist designed to soothe and calm them. If the initial music choice isn’t effective, it will continue to change tracks until the person’s state stabilises.”

The project is funded through Google.org’s AI for the Global Goals Impact Challenge, which supports organisations through the $25 million philanthropy challenge for projects that use artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Video courtesy of The University of Melbourne.

Image credit: iStock.com/Ildar Abulkhanov