Yune S. Lee, PhD

Dr. Lee’s lab has been developing a non-invasive brain enhancement method using sound — specifically musical rhythm for developmental language disorders. This is based upon emerging evidence demonstrating connections between music and language. For example, children’s musical rhythm skills are predictive of their language, especially grammar proficiencies. Conversely, children with dyslexia show poor rhythm skills. Importantly, a recent pilot experiment found that rhythmic auditory stimulation yielded better performance on a subsequent spoken sentence comprehension task than control auditory stimulation in healthy young adults. This naturally invites therapeutic potential of sound therapy for individuals with language disorders. The behavioral findings warrant neuroimaging studies to better understand the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the therapeutic impact of auditory rhythmic stimulation.