LOS ANGELES: Most days, New York social worker Dan Cohen gets to watch an awakening.
A pair of headphones is placed over the ears of a withdrawn and barely communicative Alzheimer’s patient, and a button is pushed.
Immediately, the patient’s eyes spring wide, a child-like grin creases the face, and song springs from the lips. Afterwards, for a while at least, the patient talks, happy and engaged.
Mr Cohen is the developer of a program called Music & Memory, which has been shown to dramatically improve the daily lives of dementia sufferers.