Singing and Parkinson’s Disease: Overview of the Evidence to Date

Parkinson’s Disease is a progressive neurological disorder affecting around 166,000 people in the UK. It is characterised by a significant reduction in dopamine production that in turn causes impairments across several motor and non-motor functioning. A common “group” of these impairments occur around areas of the face, head, and neck of those living with Parkinson’s. This includes rigidity and slowness in facial expression and mobility (hypomimia and facial bradykinesia, respectively) in around 92% of cases, and voice disorders in 70-90% (hypokinetic dysarthria). Together, the combined effect of these symptoms can have a detrimental impact on non-verbal communication (i.e., facial expression), vocal intensity and speech production, and eating and drinking.

A growing body of evidence shows the positive impact of singing for health and wellbeing, at both individual and social levels and across various populations. In the last decade, a collection of research studies has explored the role of singing specifically in symptom management of Parkinson’s. A 2025 review indicated that singing may benefit certain aspects of speech production, including voice loudness of sustained vowel and maximum phontonation time, although these benefits were not consistently observed.

In terms of facial mobility overall, we will discuss findings from our own recent study that is, to our knowledge, the first to explore the impact of singing on facial mobility in Parkinson’s.

The present talk brings together evidence to date of the impact of singing for people living with Parkinson’s. We will unpack why singing may be especially beneficial for symptom management in Parkinson’s, and what is needed in terms of future research and singing intervention programmes to further understand to what extent, and precisely how, singing may be used as a creative health tool to support facial and vocal functioning in Parkinson’s.

🏷️ Price £30 (UK VAT inclusive)
🎥 Recording automatically sent to all who book (even if you cannot attend live)
▶️ Rewatch as many times as you like
📜 Certificate of attendance available