Cochrane library and UpToDate are basic references for evidence-based medicine. They performed a review of music therapy or auditory interventions for various disorders and clinical conditions; pain, distress or anxiety, labor, autistic spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, depression, dementia, Parkinson disease, and Rett syndrome. Recently, the number of target disorders and conditions has increased.
    Human beings respond well to sound and music from late fetal life to the end of life if there is no ear dysfunction. Patients with severe brain dysfunction often seem to have no behavioral response to sound or music. Even in such patients, they have some kinds of response in terms of biosignals such as heart rate or functional brain examinations. However, the response might be slow and small. Therefore, music therapists have to wait for long time and period. Songs draw strong attention and might be good tools to improve memory and behavioral problems in patients with dementia and developmental disorders.

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    Rhythmical gait training of Neurologic Music Therapy, which called Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) (30min per day, 5 times a week for 4 weeks), was provided in addition to the conventional physical therapy (60min per day, 7 times a week for 4 weeks) for a thalamic hemorrhage patient with sensory impairment. The patient had immediate and long-term beneficial effects on cadence, stride lengths, affected and unaffected stride, gait velocity, and gait symmetry. However, there were no differences in the limitation of movement, such as lack of heel strike and toe lift in his gait cycle due to sensory impairment. These data suggest that RAS in addition to conventional gait training is effective for the improvement of gait disturbance of patients with thalamic damaged; however additional approaches for sensory impairment may be necessary.

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