The effect of music on walking, mobility and performance evaluation in older adults with and wi̇thout alzheimer disease

Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of music on walking, mobility and performance evaluation in older adults with and without alzheimer disease. Methods: 30 with alzheimer disease, 30 without cognitive impairment 60 older adults included in the study. For evaluation of walking and mobility 10 meter walk test; for evaluation of physical performance the chair stand test (30 seconds) used. The tests were performed in three different ways; motivational (120 bpm=120 repetitions per minute), relaxation music (60 bpm=60 repetitions per minute) and without music. Results: There were no statistically differences between groups regarding to age, gender, height, weight, body mass index (p>0.05). The control group was found to be significantly better on average of all tests than the Alzheimer's group (p = 0.000). No statistically significant difference was found between the two groups when compared with the mean scores of the groups with motivational, relaxation music and without music (p> 0.05). Conclusion: As a result of our study, the use of music in older adults with and without Alzheimer's disease did not affect walking, mobility and performance. Future research can investigate the effect of music on older adults using different testing and evaluation methods. Key words: Alzheimer, older adults, music, evaluation