On New York University Week: Listening to music can have many benefits.
Pablo Ripollés, assistant professor of music technology and psychology, investigates why it may be helpful for those recovering from a stroke.
Pablo Ripollés is an Assistant Professor with a joint position between the Department of Psychology and the Music and Audio Research Laboratory (MARL) at New York University. He received a B.M. in Computer Engineering from University of València (2009), an MSc in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Navarra (2011), and a PhD in Biomedicine from the University of Barcelona (2016). Dr. Ripollés’ work relies on creating a joint theoretical framework to study language, reward, memory and music with a clear objective: capitalize on music to shape cognition, and capitalize on cognition to shape music.
Intentional Music Listening and Stroke Recovery
Music can change our mood in an instant. A favorite song can lift our spirits after a hard day. A lullaby can calm a restless baby. A rock & roll anthem might give us the final push to finish a 5K. These small, everyday moments speak to music’s power. With Magdelena Fuentes, I am investigating whether that same power can help stroke survivors improve their mental health.
After a stroke, many people face depression, anxiety, and cognitive challenges. There’s growing evidence that music can help—but most studies lack objective data on how much music patients actually hear. Our project tackles that gap by focusing on intentional music listening. This means asking stroke patients to carve out time each day to listen to music without doing anything else. To track this, we provide each participant with a tablet and a free Spotify account. We use an open-source toolbox we developed to monitor what music they listen to and when.
What makes this study especially exciting is that we are also analyzing the musical characteristics of each patient’s choices. Using machine learning and music analysis tools, we extract features like tempo, harmony, or rhythm for every song. This helps us understand not just how much music patients listen to—but what kind, and whether certain types of music are linked to better outcomes.
Since each patient listens to something different, whether it’s classical, reggaeton, jazz, or 80s rock, what works for one person may not work for another. Our goal is to map these individual preferences to changes in mental health and cognitive recovery.
Ultimately, we hope to create scalable, personalized music-based treatments that offer real mental health benefits. After all, listening to music is something people already enjoy—our goal is to harness that joy as a tool for healing.
