Grants worth €150,000 awarded by the European Research Council help identify the innovation potential of top-level research.
University of Helsinki researchers Teppo Särkämö and Jörg Tiedemann have received Proof of Concept grants from the European Research Council (ERC). This will allow them to investigate the possibilities of turning the findings of their previous ERC-funded research into practical applications and innovations benefitting society.
A research group headed by Professor Särkämö is developing a music-based remote application for the rehabilitation of people with aphasia.
Aphasia, a condition caused by strokes or other damage to the brain, impairs speech production. However, people with aphasia are often able to produce words by singing. For the time being, there are no music-based remote rehabilitation tools widely available and used in healthcare. Developing such solutions would help in treating aphasia patients increasingly comprehensively and cost-effectively.
With the Proof of Concept grant awarded by the ERC, Professor Särkämö aims to develop a new music-based rehabilitation application and investigate its usefulness in aphasia rehabilitation. The goal is to make the application publicly available and part of the rehabilitation of cerebrovascular disorders.
The application is based on a study that previously received €1.5 million in funding from the ERC, where Särkämö's research group advanced understanding of the structural and functional connections between singing, speech and music in the ageing, recovering and degenerating brain. The study investigated how music can support healthy ageing as well as improve wellbeing and functional capacity in aphasia and Alzheimer's disease.
