Improving the vocabulary of a Hungarian severe Broca's aphasia patient by folk singing - Case study

Περίληψη

The aim of this study is to provide insight into the online therapy for vocabulary expansion in the rehabilitation of a 64-year-old female patient with severe Broca's aphasia. The therapeutic sessions based on active folk singing were led by the author of this study. The six-week intervention started in January 2022. The therapy consisted of practising a list of 50 words selected from the vocabulary of 13 folk songs. The therapy involved singing folk songs accompanied by a visual cue. The visualised list was presented with and without subtitles. A post-intervention follow-up measurement assessed both the direct and indirect effects of the sessions by naming the pictures of words practised and not practised. After the intervention, the patient's performance in naming the practiced words improved significantly for both the unscripted and scripted versions. This case study was not able to demonstrate the indirect effect of the intervention in terms of the number of correct answers, but there was a reduction in response time. It can be assumed that the positive shift in performance measured was due to the effect of singing.