New Delhi: Researchers at IIT Delhi, in collaboration with AIIMS New Delhi and the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), have developed the first Hindi version of Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT), a music-based treatment that helps stroke survivors regain the ability to speak. Their pilot study has been published in the international journal Aphasiology.
Stroke is among the leading causes of disability in India, and a substantial share of survivors are left struggling to speak. After a stroke, many people lose the ability to speak fluently, even though they can still understand language and, remarkably, sing songs they have known for years.
A therapy designed around the sound and structure of their own language could make a real difference to patients and their families across the country. Among other techniques, MIT, a widely used music therapy in the west, uses melody and rhythm to draw on this preserved musical ability and gradually rebuild speech. The therapy has been used for decades in English and other Western languages, but until now, no validated Hindi version has been available.
A Long Wait for the Right Therapy
The condition is called non-fluent aphasia, and it is one of the most distressing after-effects of a stroke. Patients are alert and able to follow conversations but cannot get the words out. For families, watching a parent or partner struggle to say something as simple as a name is deeply difficult.
Hindi is the first language of hundreds of millions of people. However, most aphasia therapy materials available in India have been borrowed from English. This means the rhythm and melody of the exercises do not match the language patients actually speak at home, a significant barrier for the millions of Hindi speakers affected each year.
Building a Hindi Version, from the Ground Up
The team began by translating and adapting the therapy into Hindi, not just substituting words, but reshaping the melodies and rhythms to suit the language. Hindi has its own distinct stress patterns and cadence, and the exercises had to reflect that to work properly.
Six Hindi-speaking stroke survivors then underwent the therapy, 40 sessions each, of 45 to 60 minutes, delivered by a trained speech therapist. All six completed the full course. Every participant exceeded the threshold that doctors describe as a “clinically meaningful” improvement, the kind of change that shows up in everyday life.
“Patients were able to string together longer sentences, spoke more freely, and reported gains in their quality of life. There were no adverse effects,” Prof. Rahul Garg, one of the researchers who led the study, said.
The researchers are also careful to note that these are early findings. “With only six patients, the results should be seen as a strong preliminary signal rather than final proof. The team is also exploring digital tools so that the therapy can eventually reach patients well beyond specialist hospitals,” Prof. N.M. Anoop Krishnan, another IIT Delhi researcher who led the study, said.
The Team Behind the Work
The study was led by Prof. N. M. Anoop Krishnan and Prof. Rahul Garg at IIT Delhi, along with Prof. Deepti Vibha at AIIMS New Delhi. Mr. Dushyant Soni, a PhD scholar at IIT Delhi’s National Resource Centre for Value Education in Engineering (NRCVEE), and Ms. Rupanshi Ahuja, project staff at IIT Delhi, are joint first authors.
They were joined by Ms Subhasmita Tripathy and Ms Shivani Aggarwal at AIIMS New Delhi, Dr Kapil Sikka of AIIMS’s Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, and Dr Suman Kushwaha from the Department of Neurology at IHBAS, Delhi.
The collaboration brought together engineers, neurologists, ENT specialists and speech therapists, a reflection of the interdisciplinary culture that NRCVEE at IIT Delhi has long encouraged.
