Integrating music‐based interventions with gamma‐frequency stimulation for Subjective Cognitive Decline and Mild Cognitive Impairment

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by disrupted, synchronous neural activity in the gamma‐band range (30‐100 Hz) and atypical cross‐frequency coupling between gamma and other bands of brain activity1‐3. In non‐human‐animal models, restoring aberrant gamma activity with non‐invasive gamma sensory stimulation remediates multiple pathophysiologies of AD (e.g., amyloid‐beta, tau tangles) and improves cognition4,5. While promising, gamma sensory stimulation may be difficult to use with human patients. We theorize that combining gamma sensory stimulation with natural music may increase the efficacy of gamma interventions for dementia, as music naturally drives gamma brain activity; engages multiple brain networks that are important for learning, memory, and reward processing; and music‐based interventions can reduce distress and agitation in older adults with dementia6.