Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a global public health issue with an increasing prevalence rate. Today, dementia (including Alzheimer’s disease) affects more than 46 million people worldwide, with the number expected to almost double every 20 years. Currently, AD affects 5 million people in the United States and is the 6th leading cause of death in the U. S. At the present time in the United States, every 70 seconds someone develops AD (Alzheimer’s Association, 2017a; 2017b).
While much research is currently being conducted to determine specific causes of AD and to develop medications to treat the disease and its symptoms, there are limitations to the effectiveness of pharmacological interventions. As a result, both the public and the healthcare community are utilizing other forms of therapy to assist both the patient with AD and their caregivers. When started early in the disease process, music therapy is a nonpharmacological method of therapy with a history of success in patients with AD. Music therapy involves the clinical use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals through a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional specially trained in specific interventions. This therapeutic modality uses a variety of interventions that have demonstrated improvement in cognition, especially in autobiographical and episodic memories, psychomotor speed, orientation, and executive function (Fang et al., 2017).