At-home Music Therapy Program May Help Bulbar-onset Patients

An at-home music therapy program aimed at improving speech, swallowing, and respiration in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) was well-tolerated and feasible, according to a small pilot study. While the pilot study (NCT03604822) was not designed to test the program’s effectiveness, collected data suggest that the music…

Vocal Cord Spasms in ALS May Be Triggered by Excessive Saliva

Although not thought common, laryngospasm — the sudden contraction of the vocal cords that makes speaking and breathing temporarily difficult — does affect some with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a study reported. Excess saliva irritating the vocal cords was the most notable trigger for laryngospasm in their work, the researchers…