Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 11, 2026
11:50
Clinical Practice Protocol of Creative Music Therapy for Preterm Infants and Their Parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Published on: January 7, 2020
27.5K
Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service Members With Traumatic Brain Injury Demonstrate Enhanced Music Skill Acquisition
Meire C Palmer1, Rebecca Vaudreuil2, Angus G Scrimgeour1
1Intrepid Spirit Center, Eglin Air Force Base, 32542 FL, United States.
Military Medicine
|September 23, 2025
Summary
Military members with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and post-concussive symptoms (PCS) showed improved outcomes with music therapy. Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) specialists demonstrated enhanced performance in music-making interventions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Military Medicine
- Creative Arts Therapies
Background:
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI) significantly impacts military personnel, affecting rehabilitation and quality of life.
- Creative arts therapies, particularly music therapy (MT), offer strengths-based approaches for TBI symptom management and treatment engagement.
- Service members (SMs) with mild TBI (mTBI) and post-concussive symptoms (PCS) experience cognitive, emotional, and social functional impairments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effectiveness of music therapy (MT) in addressing post-concussive symptoms (PCS) in active duty service members (SMs) with mTBI.
- To explore the potential benefits of a music-making intervention on the piano for SMs with mTBI and PCS.
- To compare the performance of Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) SMs with non-EOD SMs in an MT clinical protocol.
Main Methods:
- Clinical observations from music therapy (MT) sessions with active duty service members (SMs) diagnosed with mTBI and PCS.
- Implementation of a specific clinical protocol involving a music-making intervention on the piano.
- Comparative analysis of performance between EOD-SMs and non-EOD-SMs within the MT protocol.
Main Results:
- EOD-SMs demonstrated superior performance in dexterity, memory retention and recall, and emotional regulation compared to non-EOD-SMs.
- The findings suggest that the cognitive and motor demands of EOD training may enhance music skill acquisition.
- EOD-SMs' pattern recognition and recall abilities, honed by their profession, may contribute to accelerated learning in music therapy.
Conclusions:
- Music therapy can be an effective intervention for military personnel experiencing mTBI and PCS.
- The unique skill sets developed through military occupational specialties like EOD may positively influence outcomes in creative arts therapies.
- Further research is warranted to explore the hypothesis that professional training in demanding military roles accelerates music skill acquisition in SMs with mTBI.
