Recruiting

Music Listening

Sponsor:

University of British Columbia

Code:

NCT05505019

Conditions

Parkinson Disease

Apathy

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 40 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Music listening

Podcast listening

Study Details

Brief summary:

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is often accompanied by non-motor symptoms that make treatment more difficult. One such symptom is apathy (lack of motivation and emotion). There are no treatments for apathy in PD, and this remains a major unmet need in PD patients. One possible way to target apathy in PD patients is listening to music, which has been shown to help improve apathy in older adults. Little work has explored the mechanism in which music targets apathy. Thus, the goal of this study is to understand how music listening can impact the brain towards decreasing apathy in PD patients.

Conditions

Parkinson Disease

Apathy

Study ID

NCT05505019

Start date

Feb 9, 2022

Status verified date

Mar, 2026

Completion date

Jul 31, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jul 31, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 40 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

\- Clinical diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease following MDS Parkinson's disease criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Participants with atypical Parkinsonism (eg. Progressive supranuclear palsy, multiple system atrophy, drug induced, etc.)
  • Epilepsy
  • Other neurological disease/complications (eg. myopathy, stroke, brain lesion, MS)
  • Significant cognitive impairment (MoCa <21)
  • Moderate depression (Beck's Depression Inventory >20)
  • Severe/multiple head trauma(s)
  • Participants with metal/medical implants, including any of the following: artificial heart valve, brain aneurysm clip, electrical stimulators, ear or eye implant, implanted drug infusion pump, coil, catheter, or filter in any blood vessel, orthopedic hardware such as artificial joint, plate, and/or screws, other metallic prostheses, shrapnel, bullets, or other metal fragments, surgery or tattoos, including tattooed eyeliner, in the last six weeks, cardiac pacemaker, wires or defibrillator, or ferromagnetic aneurysm clip)
  • Participants who have gone through specific injuries/brain surgery (eg. an injury where a piece of metal lodged in the eye or orbit)

Study Design

Enrollment

50 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Supportive Care

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Parkinson's Disease with apathy - Music-listening

Participants in this arm will receive a YouTube account app to use. Prior to the start of the intervention, a research team member will guide participants in this group in constructing a playlist of music that they "find rewarding or motivating".

experimental: Parkinson's Disease with apathy - Podcast-listening

Participants in this arm will receive a YouTube account app to use. Prior to the start of the intervention, a research team member will guide participants in this group in choosing a podcast that they "find rewarding or motivating".

Interventions

Music listening

This intervention involves listening to participant-selected music that they have evaluated as rewarding/motivating. YouTube Music will be used to build both personalized music and podcast interventions.

Podcast listening

This intervention involves listening to participant-selected podcasts of neutral content. YouTube Music will be used to build both personalized music and podcast interventions.

Primary outcome measure

  • Change in seed-based functional connectivity between auditory, reward, and motor areas (implicated in musical reward processing) during a music-listening task, before and after an 8-week audio-based intervention [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
  • Change in seed-based functional connectivity between auditory, reward, and motor areas (implicated in musical reward processing) at rest, before and after an 8-week audio-based intervention [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
  • Change in univariate whole-brain analysis at rest before and after an 8-week audio-based intervention [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
  • Change in univariate whole-brain analysis during a music listening task before and after an 8-week audio-based intervention [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
  • Change in fMRI representational similarity analysis during a music listening task before and after an 8-week audio-based intervention [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
  • Change in fMRI representational similarity analysis at rest before and after an 8-week audio-based intervention [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
  • Short-term clinical measure of apathy before and after an 8-week audio-based intervention -Positive and Negative Affective Schedule (PANAS) [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
  • Short-term clinical measure of apathy after a 4-week washout period post-intervention - Positive and Negative Affective Schedule (PANAS) [ Time Frame: 4 weeks ]
  • Short-term clinical measure of apathy before and after an 8-week audio-based intervention - Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
  • Short-term clinical measure of apathy after a 4-week washout period post-intervention - Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) [ Time Frame: 4 weeks ]
  • Long-term clinical measure of apathy before and after an 8-week audio-based intervention - Starkstein Apathy Scale (SAS) [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
  • Long-term clinical measure of apathy after a 4-week washout period post-intervention - Starkstein Apathy Scale (SAS) [ Time Frame: 4 weeks ]
  • Clinical assessment of apathy before and after an 8-week audio-based intervention - Lille Apathy Rating Scale (LARS) [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
  • Clinical assessment of apathy after a 4-week washout period post-intervention - Lille Apathy Rating Scale (LARS) [ Time Frame: 4 weeks ]
  • Clinical assessment of apathy in Parkinson's Disease before and after an 8-week audio-based intervention - Movement Disorders Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale - apathy item (MDS-UPDRS) [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
  • Clinical assessment of apathy in Parkinson's Disease after a 4-week washout period post-intervention - Movement Disorders Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale - apathy item [ Time Frame: 4 weeks ]
  • Assessment of musical reward sensitivity before and after an 8-week audio-based intervention - Barcelona Musical Reward Questionnaire (BMRQ) [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
  • Assessment of musical reward sensitivity after a 4-week washout period post-intervention - Barcelona Musical Reward Questionnaire (BMRQ) [ Time Frame: 4 weeks ]
  • Grip force response (GFR) during a music listening fMRI task before and after an 8-week audio-based intervention [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
  • Grip force duration and fatigue during a music listening fMRI task before and after an 8-week audio-based intervention [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Mikey Jose, B.Sc.

(604) 822-3177miguel.jose@ubc.ca

Annie Kuan

604-827-0576annie.kuan@ubc.ca

Locations

Djavad Mowafghian Centre for Brain Health

Recruiting

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6T1Z3

Contacts

Annie Kuan

(604) 822-1388annie.kuan@ubc.ca

More Information

Sponsor

University of British Columbia

Last update posted

Mar 23, 2026

Last verified

Mar, 2026

Keywords

  • Music
  • Music intervention
  • Non-motor symptoms

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of British Columbia on 2026-03-23.