The Sound Health Network is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with the University of California, San Francisco.

New Funding Opportunity!

Notice of Funding Opportunity

The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to reissue PAR-23-256 “Feasibility Trials of the NIH Music-based Interventions Toolkit for Brain Disorders of Aging (R34 Clinical Trial Required)” in order to support proof-of-concept feasibility trials guided by the NIH Music-based Interventions (MBI) Toolkit for research on brain disorders of aging. 

These early phase clinical trials will generate evidence supporting the validity of the NIH MBI Toolkit’s guiding principles as well as the necessary pilot data to design a subsequent clinical efficacy or effectiveness study (or pragmatic clinical trial) using music-based interventions in the context of brain disorders of aging, including but not limited to Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias, Parkinson’s disease, and stroke. The data collected should address gaps in scientific knowledge in order to facilitate development of a competitive large-scale clinical trial.

Latest application due dates October 21 - November 19, 2024. For all deadlines and requirements visit here. For additional funding opportunities visit Sound Health Network.

In Conversation with Latine Youth

This summer, we turn our ‘In Conversation’ piece to the voice of America’s Latine youth, and highlight promising developments in the use of music to improve mental health in adolescents.

First, explore with us first person winning essays in the Speaking Up About Mental Health National Essay Contest via The National Institutes of Health (NIH). Adolescent aged 16-18 shared ways to eliminate and/or reduce mental health stigma in our society.

We were especially touched by this Gold Awardee Essay from Raphael in Hawaii who, while sharing his personal experiences, brings us to an audience of concert-goers where he advocates for legislature to help adolescent mental health, and illustrates the power that being heard plays in our mental health. Here's an excerpt:

"Nearly everyone has experienced being tongue-tied. We try to engage in conversation, but the words come out wrong or not at all. Now, imagine being a teenager who always feels tongue-tied and the mental anguish that follows. This is how I felt in 2021. While searching for support groups for teens with speech challenges, I discovered there was no such group in my entire state. So, I founded a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, CHATS: Caring for Hawaii Teens with Speech Challenges. In speaking with fellow stutterers and others who had been teased, bullied, and mocked due to their communication differences, I began to realize the correlation between the societal treatment of those with speech challenges and the emotional scars it leaves. This ripple of abuse needed to stop. That was the moment I decided to be the change. In partnering with Mental Health America of Hawaii and Spill the Tea Café, a local mental health clinic for youth, I would spread a message of inclusiveness, anti-bullying, and mental wellness.

As the first in my community to tackle the topic concerning the mental health of teens with speech challenges, I partnered with local speech and mental health organizations and spoke within the community. I filmed a video that aired on PBS Hawaii called “A Safe Place for Youth.” It featured CHATS partner, Spill the Tea Café, and highlighted the clinic’s innovative and welcoming approach to individual and group therapy. I was the youngest of four panelists on INSIGHTS PBS Hawaii: Mental Health of Hawaii’s Teens. INSIGHTS is Hawaii’s second most-watched locally produced program on PBS Hawaii. 

On INSIGHTS, I gave my perspective, as well as those of my peers, on the topics of bullying, anxiety, mental health, as well as my work with CHATS. To stress the importance of mental health, I, alongside CHATS partner Mental Health America of Hawaii, visited neighborhood schools to talk about anti-bullying and acceptance for those with communicational differences and to offer help and resources to those who felt alone. I spoke to a crowd of concertgoers at a Martin Luther King Jr. event, sat on the 2022 Hawaii State Children and Youth Summit panel to stress the importance of state legislature to do more to help our youth, and hosted family meet-and-greets.

Reaching out to the local community, I needed a multi-teared approach. I formed a team that includes mental health advocates, educators, youth coordinators, parents, teens, government officials, and speech and language pathologists. Members of my team and I have made an educational video for schools about speech challenges and mental health. These videos enable teachers to share this information multiple times within multiple grade levels.

Taking action in my community has inspired others to advocate for CHATS as well. For example, a 100-year-old World War II veteran living with a stutter heard about CHATS. I had the privilege of meeting with him where I learned about his difficult life journey through stuttering. Overjoyed with the work CHATS is doing he volunteered as a guest speaker to encourage others who may be struggling. 

A teen CHATS member with a cleft palate decided to start her own CHATS fan club in her school. We have gained a teen base of volunteers who attend CHATS community events, speak to attendees about the problem, and discuss the solution. The co-founder of Camp Ohana Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering youth in Africa, has agreed to partner with us to provide resources and therapy to kids in Kenya.

Through awareness and education, we can break the walls of misconception to create a society that views those with speech and communication differences with normalcy and acceptance. This will empower youth to raise their voice and teach the community to listen. It all starts with a conversation.

Read more from the gold, silver, bronze and honorable mention essays from across 33 states here along with previous year awardees.

Our youth are writing essays, hosting podcasts and sharing their stories across media platforms where their voices are more than just a neighborhood echo and instead, are the sounds being heard around the world. 

On May 30, 2024, Spotify, with over 626 million monthly subscribers, announced a partnership with UNICEF, an agency that provides humanitarian aid to children worldwide, to bring the Our Minds Matter Mental Health Hub to seven countries in Latin America; Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Chile and Paraguay.  

Why is this significant now?

Andria Spyridou, UNICEF LACRO Mental Health Specialist states that “around 16 million children and adolescents between the ages of 10 and 16 live with a diagnosed mental disorder. Every day, more than 10 adolescents die by suicide in the region.”  

Therefore, these episodes and hub are a positive health response providing our youth with an accessible audio resource wherever they may stream.

Three key objectives of the digital content include:

• Helping young people learn about mental health and how to deal with key issues like stress, depression, anxiety, loss and bereavement;
• Providing practical tools and resources to support young people experiencing mental health challenges;  
• Breaking down stigma to support help seeking behaviour among young people and their communities. 

Listen to the podcast here.

But what does the research say about the role that music can play in improving the mental health of adolescents and young adults?

Young adults and adolescents are in a mental health crisis, particularly girls, LGBTQ+ youth, and young adults of color. A systematic review of music-based interventions to improve treatment engagement and mental health outcomes for adolescents and young adults by Rodwin et al. published in 2022 focused on active (ex., music-making or songwriting) and receptive (ex., lyric analysis, music listening) interventions that targeted social and emotional outcomes and found that they led to improvements in social and emotional areas such as emotion regulation and self-esteem, as well as decreases in reported anxiety and symptoms of depression.The researchers categorized different music-based interventions into three types: 1) Somatosensory (active experiences involving kinetic or sensory elements), 2) Social-Emotional (experiences that were interpersonal and interactive), and 3) Cognitive-reflective (experiences that were reflective and focused on meaning-making), attesting to the breadth of the types of interventions available.

But more rigorous research is needed in order to optimize the use of music in these contexts.  Few studies conducted longer-term follow-up measurements to determine whether improvements were maintained over time and many studies did not identify which effects and mechanisms are specific to the music-based interventions; in other words, we do not yet know precisely how or why the interventions work. 

Music-based interventions remain promising because music is a worldwide form of expression, and one that is embraced by teens. These interventions can be tailored for adolescents in an empowering and culturally relevant way. They can serve as primary interventions but can also be complementary – embedded into existing mental health treatment plans.

Affinity Group Announcements

To learn more about other affinity groups, please click here.

From the NIH: NIH Music-Based Intervention Toolkit for Brain Disorders of Aging

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) recently launched the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Music-Based Intervention Toolkit for Brain Disorders of Aging. This web-based resource will help researchers and health professionals interested in exploring music-based interventions for brain disorders of aging; it was adapted from a paper published in the journal, Neurology on May 1, 2023.

Learn more about the researcher toolkit in the NCCIH Research blog here.

Access the toolkit here.

In Case You Missed it: Exploring App-Based Music Interventions and Therapist-Led Music Therapy

Watch a recording here!



Technology has revolutionized the way we access and utilize various forms of music therapy and music-based interventions. This symposium delves into the dynamic discourse surrounding the use of technology-driven music interventions versus traditional therapist-led approaches. We will discuss research findings, clinical outcomes, and case studies highlighting the advantages and limitations of each approach. This symposium is designed for music therapists, psychologists, healthcare professionals, researchers, educators, and anyone interested in the evolving field of music-based interventions.

In Case You Missed it: Music and Health Mock Study Section with Q&A



Watch a recording here!

“Music and Health” Mock Study Section with Q&A” was the third in the “Music and Health Grant Writing Series”, sponsored by the Sound Health Network and NIH. The music and health research community were invited to join this 90 minute webinar accompanied by a 20-minute Q&A to a) become familiar with the NIH study section review process; b) better understand how reviewers present and discuss applications to the NIH; c) learn about the importance of the review criteria: significance, innovation, investigators, approach, environment, and additional review criteria; and d) better understand the roles of the primary reviewers, the panel, and NIH staff in a NIH study section review. 

In Case You Missed it: Writing a Strong Research Plan

Watch a recording here!

“Writing a Strong Research Plan” was the second session in the “Music and Health Grant Writing Series”, sponsored by the Sound Health Network in collaboration with the NEA and NIH. This session went into more depth about the research plan section of a grant application, with a particular focus on music and health grants.

Research Spotlight: Music and Adolescent Latine Youth

Dupont-Reyes, Villatoro, Phelan, & Painter (2020). In the article “Media language preferences and mental illness stigma among Latinx adolescents,” Dupont-Reyes and coauthors studied Latine sixth graders who completed assessments of mental health knowledge and language preferences for consuming media (e.g., film, television, radio). Latine adolescents who preferred Spanish-speaking media (instead of English) had less mental health knowledge, more negative attitudes towards mental health, and greater social separation from peers with mental illnesses. Greater mental health stigmatization may exist in Spanish (vs. English) media. The experiment suggests that including anti-stigma messaging in Spanish media may help reduce disparities in mental illness stigma among Latine youth. 

Rooted in the Chicana tradition, Collective songwriting in Boyle Heights engages the community by creating music that articulates the issues of art, education, and social action. Led by ACTA, this project empowers residents to advocate for policy changes in schools, neighborhoods, preventive health, and anti-displacement efforts. The initiative develops beauty by turning art into advocacy while amplifying community voices, creating a sense of ownership among members, and promoting social justice within Boyle Heights. 

Robinson, Seaman, Montgomery & Winfrey (2018) In the article “A Review of Hip Hop Based Interventions for Health Literacy, Health Behaviors, and Mental Health,” Robinson and coauthors conducted a scoping review of articles that used hip-hop interventions to manage health. Many hip-hop interventions primarily target African-American and Latine children and adolescents, with the hope that these hip-hop interventions will improve health literacy, health behavior, and mental health. In general, there have only been 23 studies in the last 25 years, and experimental results are inconsistent. Because of health disparities among minority youths, work on culturally competent interventions that discuss health behaviors is incredibly important. 

Culturally-informed approaches have often been overlooked in traditional healthcare models, particularly in Latine communities, leading to pervasive mistrust in medical and mental health services among Mexican American communities. Establishing a culturally-centered therapeutic alliance is vital to building trust and honoring the community’s physical, social, emotional, and spiritual well-being. In “Mexican American Values and Therapeutic Alliance in Music Therapy" published in 2023, Marisa de Leon, a music therapist in Rio Grande Valley, provides vignettes to demonstrate the significance of establishing rapport between the therapist, the client, and their family. For example, sensitivity to familism is crucial to success in cultural contexts. Music therapy can be meaningful to Mexican Americans if clinicians are sensitive to cultural norms. 

Related Conferences and Events

The Association of Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss announces web conference:

Three-Part Invention: Three Consumer Panels for Musicians with Hearing Loss occurring on July 27. This year features three panel discussions on the following topics:

·       Single-sided hearing loss

·       Hearing aids

·       Cochlear implants Members of our group are serving as panelists and moderators.

Real-time captioning willl be provided for this event. Registration is $25 per person per ticket and includes access to presentation recordings for 14 days after the conference. Information about the conference agenda, and registration link can be found at this website.

The Future of Music and Arts in Medicine and Health will take place in Berlin, Germany, and online, September 18-21, 2024. This hybrid event will bring together medical and artistic experts, researchers, practitioners, and students from around the world, including our Director of Communications, Dr. Indre Viskontas, offering opportunities for collaboration and networking across continents and disciplines. Additionally, pre and post-congress workshops, Special Interest Group meetings and other business meetings will enrich the program.

To attend and learn more about the fall conference click here.

Join us at the 2024 Biennial NAfME Music Research and Teacher Education Conference, September 25-28, 2024 in Atlanta, GA for dialogue on the experience of teaching music, as well as information on music education research and policy. Dr. Indre Viskontas will outline research on the impacts of music education on the brain, and share information about the Sound Health Network with the music education community. To learn more about this conference, click here.

Click here for additional upcoming events!

Watch previous Sound Health Network events here.

Job Opportunities in Music and Health

Check out music and health job opportunities on our website here!

PostDoc: Genetics of musicality

The Vanderbilt Music Cognition Lab is now accepting applications for a genetics-focused postdoctoral fellow. Using computational methods, the postdoc will develop and carry out new studies of the genetic basis of human musicality traits (i.e., rhythm ability) and explore potentially shared architecture with other communication traits (i.e., speech/language), health traits, and related neural endophenotypes. A primary focus of the position will be to explore genetic contributions to the neural basis of musicality traits. The postdoc will have the opportunity to develop their own related projects in parallel, and will receive training in leadership, mentorship, and grantsmanship in preparation for an independent career.

The Lab is a highly interdisciplinary environment that engages trainees from a wide range of Vanderbilt degree programs and maintains collaborations with a network of researchers across Vanderbilt units and with other national and international sites. Training opportunities will be individualized to the fellow’s career goals, drawing from an array of methodologies from human genetics/genomics, cognitive neuroscience, music cognition, child language development, and communication disorders. This position will be co-supervised by Vanderbilt Genetics Institute collaborators (more info here).

The candidate must have strong programming/computational skills, experience working with GWAS data, and an interest in working in a fast-paced biomedical research environment. The postdoc will help supervise multiple genetics projects in the lab and will join our international network of collaborators exploring genetics of musicality and health. Initial appointments will be made for one year, with potential additional years contingent on funding.

The collaborative relationships on campus also include partnerships with the Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, and The Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy. Vanderbilt offers exemplary career development for young scientists through the BRET office and other institutional resources, as well as within the lab.

Candidates should send a CV, cover letter and publication reprints to Dr. Reyna Gordon reyna.gordon@vanderbilt.edu. 

Pediatric Music Therapy Postdoctoral Fellowship

The Research fellowship will provide postdoctoral training for a highly-qualified credentialed music therapist with a Ph.D. The 3-year fellowship has two key goals:

1. Provide intensive research training in the topic area of pediatrics, pain, and music  therapy; and
2. Provide interprofessional mentorship for a music therapy researcher to become an independent academic researcher.

The fellowship will offer a unique experience for learning, growing, and advancing research. The fellow will learn the methods required to implement clinical research and begin training at the UCSF Summer Clinical Research Workshop. The fellowship also will leverage clinical research courses from UCSF’s Advanced Training in Clinical Research. Furthermore, the fellow will participate in the two of the most comprehensive training courses in the field worldwide and directed by Dr. Friedrichsdorf: the Pediatric Pain Master Class and Education in Palliative & End-of-Life Care Pediatrics. These trainings will allow the fellow to further their knowledge, skills, and attitude in the field.

The multidisciplinary nature of the mentorship experience will be unique. The mentoring team will include Julene Johnson, PhD (Professor, Institute for Health & Aging, UCSF School of Nursing and the Sound Health Network Sheri Robb, PhD, MT-BC (Walther Professor of Supportive Oncology, Indiana University Schools of Nursing and Medicine), and Stefan Friedrichsdorf, MD (Elisa and Marc Stad Professor in Pediatric Pain Medicine, Palliative Care and Integrative Medicine), with additional mentors as needed. The fellow will meet with their interprofessional mentoring team on a monthly basis to discuss their research project and career development in addition to obtaining tailored training on music therapy, pediatrics, pain, palliative care, and music and health research.

Music4Pain Visiting Scholars Program

The Music4Pain Research Network is thrilled to announce the launch of its Visiting Scholar Program, designed to support PhD students in gaining research experience and training in mechanistic research related to music for pain management. This program offers a unique opportunity for scholars to engage in immersive residential training experiences within labs relevant to the mission of our network. To learn more about the program and to apply, please click here.

Sound Health Network

The Sound Health Network is hiring a part-time coordinator to provide administrative support. The job listing can be found here.