THE EFFECT OF VIBROTACTILE STIMULATION, INSTRUMENTATION, AND PRECOMPOSED MELODIES ON PHYSIOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIORAL-RESPONSES OF PROFOUNDLY RETARDED-CHILDREN AND ADULTS

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of vibrotactil e stimulation (via the SOMATRON(TM)), instrumentation (flute versus be lls), and precomposed melodies (pentatonic versus major) on physiologi cal and behavioral responses of profoundly retarded children/adults. F ifteen profoundly handicapped clients ages 6-46 served as subjects for this study. Subjects received four music therapy treatments; two with vibrotactile stimulation and two without. Each treatment consisted of four prerecorded music conditions composed, recorded, and performed b y the researcher. These were: pentatonic mode and bells, pentatonic mo de and flute, major mode and bells, and major mode and flute. Respirat ions and pulse rate served as physiological measures, while observatio ns of eye movement, facial expression, vocalizations, and motor moveme nt served as behavioral measures. Deep inhalations were shown to incre ase significantly during musical stimulation. The type of musical stim ulation did not affect these results. Statistically significant increa ses in vocalizations occurred during the major flute melody as compare d with the major bells melody. The major flute melody was also signifi cantly more effective in eliciting vocalizations when not accompanied with vibrotactile stimulation. In an examination of the order of prese ntation of melodies, the first melody elicited significantly more voca lizations than the second melody, which in turn elicited significantly more vocalizations than the third melody. These results suggest the m usic used in this study induced an initial stimulatory effect in terms of vocalizations, which decreased over time. The largest variance in subject responses was evident during the third melody, which occurred approximately 8 minutes into treatment. This 8-minute time span may ha ve functioned as a critical period in which the maximum difference bet ween vibrotactile and non-vibrotactile stimulation could be observed w ith this particular population.