When dyslexics play a game that calls for responses to tones that come very fast, it reportedly helps them to read better. Some hospitals play soft background music in intensive care units for premature babies. Researchers have found that such music, as well as a nurse's or mother's humming, helps babies to gain weight faster and to leave the unit earlier than premies who don't hear these sounds. On the other end of the age scale, music has been used to calm Alzheimer's patients. At mealtime in nursing homes or hospitals these people may be difficult to organize.
Fights even occur.
The right kind of music, it has been demonstrated, reduces confusion and disagreements. Investigators have also found that music lowers blood pressure in certain situations, and it seems to increase the efficiency of oxygen consumption by the heart. Then there are endless anecdotes about athletes using music to enhance their performance. To determine how much difference music makes, however, the performance of an athlete who listens to music would have to be compared with that in games when he or she didn't listen. Tramo believes that music and dancing preceded language.