# Music Therapy in Dementia Care: answers and explanations

Testmigo Practice Test 2, Listening Part 4

Source: Written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 31 | glucose | their metabolism of glucose was close to what you'd expect in a healthy brain |
| 32 | hypothesis | a hypothesis rather than an established fact |
| 33 | registered | you can only use it if you're registered with the Health and Care Professions Council |
| 34 | improvised | A lot of the music is improvised |
| 35 | depression | probably reduces symptoms of depression slightly |
| 36 | social | it may lead to better social behaviour |
| 37 | cognition | an effect on cognition, by which I mean thinking and remembering |
| 38 | teenage | it's usually the teenage years |
| 39 | verbal | less likely to show verbal agitation |
| 40 | turnover | the constant turnover of residents caused delays |

## Why these answers are right

**31. glucose.** After saying the two regions had thinned far less than the rest of the cortex, the lecturer adds that their metabolism of glucose was close to what you would expect in a healthy brain. Processing at almost healthy levels paraphrases metabolism close to a healthy brain, so glucose fills the gap.

**32. hypothesis.** The lecturer warns that the popular claim that a familiar tune can unlock a person's whole past is, at this stage, a hypothesis rather than an established fact. No more than a in the sentence matches the cautious at this stage, so hypothesis is the word.

**33. registered.** The lecturer explains that music therapist is a protected title in the UK, so you can only use it if you are registered with the Health and Care Professions Council. Describe themselves as paraphrases use the title, and a national professional body stands for the council.

The why and the trap for questions 34 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/listening/music-therapy-in-dementia-care/answers).

## Transcript

**Announcer:** Part 4. You will hear a lecture about the use of music in the care of people with dementia.

**Announcer:** First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40.

**Announcer:** Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40.

**Lecturer:** Good morning. Today I'm looking at how music is used in dementia care.

**Lecturer:** You'll probably have seen clips online of someone who barely speaks any more suddenly singing every word of an old song.

**Lecturer:** But as researchers, we have to ask why this happens, and whether it makes a measurable difference.

**Lecturer:** First, the why. A 2015 study came from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig.

**Lecturer:** First, the team scanned thirty-two healthy young volunteers while playing them unfamiliar pieces, pieces they'd heard shortly beforehand, and pieces they'd known for years.

**Lecturer:** Two small neighbouring regions responded to the long-familiar pieces, and neither had previously been thought to matter much for musical memory.

**Lecturer:** The researchers then examined brain data from twenty people with Alzheimer's. Those two regions had thinned far less than the rest of the cortex.

**Lecturer:** And their metabolism of glucose was close to what you'd expect in a healthy brain.

**Lecturer:** They weren't untouched, though. They did contain amyloid, the protein that builds up in Alzheimer's, which may simply be an earlier marker of the disease than thinning.

**Lecturer:** Now, a note of caution. The researchers acknowledged that nobody yet knows how musical memory relates to other kinds of memory.

**Lecturer:** So the popular claim that a familiar tune can unlock a person's whole past is, at this stage, a hypothesis rather than an established fact.

**Lecturer:** Right. In practice, we need to separate two quite different things.

**Lecturer:** The first is music therapy itself. In the UK, music therapist is a protected title, so you can only use it if you're registered with the Health and Care Professions Council.

**Lecturer:** Qualifying means training at master's level, usually over two or three years, with supervised clinical placements.

**Lecturer:** And a therapist doesn't just put a record on. Sessions centre on live interaction between therapist and client, using instruments and often the voice.

**Lecturer:** A lot of the music is improvised, made up in the moment rather than taken from a songbook, which helps people who struggle to communicate in words.

**Lecturer:** The second category is music-based activities, such as a choir in a care home or a relative playing someone's favourite songs, often run by people with no clinical training.

**Lecturer:** Evidence about one doesn't automatically transfer to the other.

**Lecturer:** So, what does the evidence say? The most thorough summary is a Cochrane review, updated in March 2025 by a team in the Netherlands.

**Lecturer:** It combined thirty randomised trials from fifteen countries, involving about seventeen hundred, well, seventeen hundred and twenty people with dementia, and every intervention had to last for at least five sessions.

**Lecturer:** Most participants lived in care homes, and the authors call for more research in community settings.

**Lecturer:** Compared with usual care, music-based therapy probably reduces symptoms of depression slightly, and it may improve behavioural problems overall.

**Lecturer:** Set against other activities, it may lead to better social behaviour. Whether it eases anxiety, though, remains uncertain.

**Lecturer:** Now, the surprise. Agitation is often the very reason staff try music, yet the review concluded that therapy probably doesn't reduce agitation or aggression.

**Lecturer:** Nor was there evidence of an effect on cognition, by which I mean thinking and remembering, and no evidence that any benefits continue once the sessions stop.

**Lecturer:** Next, personalised playlists, which families can put together themselves.

**Lecturer:** In Scotland, the charity Playlist for Life was founded in 2013 by the broadcaster Sally Magnusson, after the death of her mother, who'd had dementia.

**Lecturer:** Families and carers gather songs with personal meaning: the song from a first dance, say, or lullabies from childhood.

**Lecturer:** But which part of someone's life should you search? A 2021 survey of a hundred and fifty-seven people, born between 1940 and 1989, looked at which popular songs they recalled best.

**Lecturer:** In every age group, the peak fell between thirteen and nineteen. So it's usually the teenage years, rather than early childhood, that are worth exploring first.

**Lecturer:** Does it work, though? In the United States, a large trial ran across fifty-four nursing homes, with nearly a thousand residents, although only half of those homes received the intervention.

**Lecturer:** There, residents were given their preferred music on a personal device, and their behaviour was measured by direct observation rather than staff reports.

**Lecturer:** Residents with the playlists were somewhat less likely to show verbal agitation, and more likely to be seen enjoying themselves.

**Lecturer:** However, there was no significant effect on physical agitation. And remember, there was no therapist involved.

**Lecturer:** Finally, the people delivering it. Interviews with staff in that trial were revealing.

**Lecturer:** Because every playlist had to be built for one individual, the constant turnover of residents caused delays whenever someone new arrived.

**Lecturer:** Staff also found that relatives influenced whether residents took part at all.

**Lecturer:** So this isn't a quick fix, but used thoughtfully, it can help people connect. Next week: dance.

**Announcer:** That is the end of Part 4. You now have 30 seconds to check your answers.

[Practice Music Therapy in Dementia Care](https://testmigo.com/ielts/listening/music-therapy-in-dementia-care)