Efficacy of Melodic Intonation Therapy in Patients with Chronic Broca’s Aphasia: Speech Language Pathology Perspective

Abstract

Aphasia is a linguistic problem that occurs after brain damage. It's a broad term that encompasses everything from modest word retrieval challenges to a complete inability to produce and interpret language. Fluent and non-fluent aphasia are two types of aphasia. Non-fluent aphasia is characterized by sluggish, effortful speaking and is caused by a stroke in the left frontotemporal areas. These patients' language production is mainly limited to one- or two-word utterances. Non-fluent aphasic patients can sing fluently despite their significant language production handicap, which has led to the use of singing and music in aphasia rehabilitation. Objective: To examine the effectiveness of Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) in patients with chronic Broca's aphasia. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted from March 1 to September 30, 2021, at NUR International University to investigate the efficacy of MIT in patients with persistent Broca's aphasia. For this purpose data was collected from almost 50 speech therapists working with chronic Broca's aphasic patients through a self-designed questionnaire. The questionnaire was used as a data collecting instrument that was designed by expert opinion and literature review. Results: Results indicated that MIT is effective in patients with chronic Broca's aphasia. On asking the respondent about the efficacy of MIT almost 88% responded that MIT is effective, 8% were not sure about the efficacy of MIT and 4% responded MIT is not effective in chronic aphasic patients. On asking the respondent about the development of expressive language 64 % responded that expressive Language is improved while 36 % were not sure about the development of expressive language development. On asking the respondent whether MIT reduces psychological stress on individuals regarding the necessity to speak correctly, 88 % responded with yes while 12 % responded with No that MIT reduces psychological stress. Conclusions: It is concluded from this study that MIT is effective in patients with chronic Broca’s aphasia.