Music Therapy for Alzheimer’s Care

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This project challenges students to create an AI-powered music intervention system to support seniors living with Alzheimer’s disease. The system uses personalized music playlists and vocal interaction to achieve four therapeutic goals:

  1. Stimulate memory recall through familiar songs

  2. Reduce agitation and stress

  3. Improve sleep quality

  4. Enhance caregiver engagement

The application runs on tablets or phones, integrating a microphone for vocal affect analysis and a personalized recommender system that curates music based on each individual’s history. Students will design and prototype the system, deploy it on Microsoft Azure for scalability, and ensure strict compliance with HIPAA/GDPR privacy standards.

Learning Outcomes

Students will learn to:

  • Understand how music therapy can influence memory, mood, and behavior in Alzheimer’s care.

  • Design and deploy an interactive application with playlists, surveys, and vocal input.

  • Apply concepts of affective computing to analyze vocal patterns for mood or agitation detection.

  • Incorporate caregiver feedback using Likert-scale surveys and validated tools (Cohen-M, PAINAD, NPI-Q).

  • Address data ethics, privacy, and security in real-world healthcare technology development.

What Makes This Project Exceptional

  1. Merges AI innovation with music therapy, delivering meaningful social impact.

  2. Addresses four key aspects of Alzheimer’s care—memory, agitation, sleep, engagement—in one system.

  3. Gives high school students the chance to tackle a real-world healthcare challenge with measurable results.

  4. Provides built-in therapy modes (Calm, Reminiscence, Morning Routine) for flexible, user-centered design.

Notes

  • Prototype deployed on Azure with encryption and secure authentication.

  • Includes a music recommender engine with mood tagging for personalization.

  • Uses microphone-based affective computing to detect agitation or mood shifts in real time.

  • Students will simulate caregiver–patient interactions during development and testing.

This sub-project empowers students to combine STEM, empathy, and innovation while contributing to an urgently needed solution in Alzheimer’s care—making it both a portfolio-ready project and a step toward real-world health impact.