Regularly listening to music may be linked to a lower risk of developing dementia, according to a recent study, with the researchers suggesting that this could slash your chances by nearly 40%.
In the study, researchers looked at data spanning a decade and involving more than 10 000 relatively healthy people, aged 70 and older, in Australia. People who listened to music most days saw their risk of developing dementia dropping by 39% compared with those who did not regularly listen to music, they found.
The Washington Post reports that the ASPREE Longitudinal Study of Older Persons followed participants to investigate what factors are associated with the risks of developing various diseases – and how much lifestyle changes could make a difference.
“Music was one of the areas we were interested in,” said Joanne Ryan, head of the Biological Neuropsychiatry and Dementia research unit in the School of Public Health at Monash University and the senior researcher on the new study.
The team had collected data annually from participants and their medical providers, and cognitive function assessments were conducted by trained staff.
They found that of the 10 893 participants in the study, the 7 030 who said they listen to music most days had the biggest drop in dementia risk compared with people who were not as frequent music listeners. The study did not specify what kind of music.
“They also had a decreased risk of experiencing more general cognitive decline,” Ryan said. “And we also found that in that time period, they performed better, consistently better, on the tasks of memory and also on a global cognitive function test.”
Ryan said that this is an observational study, and the research can’t determine if listening to music caused the decreased risk in cognitive decline. There might be other factors associated with listening to music that account for the difference. But she found the results striking.
“If we do consider our findings in light of other research that has been done, we think there could be a real direct link.”
Ryan pointed to the large body of research that has shown music can boost our moods and stimulate a number of areas of our brains, which is beneficial for cognitive function.
“I would encourage people to listen to more music, because if it’s something they take pleasure from and it’s also stimulating their brain, why not?”
What happens when we listen to music
At Princeton University’s Music Cognition Lab, researchers have conducted studies looking at what happens to people’s brains when they listen to music. They’ve found that various parts of the brain are activated, including motor areas, sensory areas, the regions that process emotions and those involved in imagining or daydreaming.
This could be the key to what makes music powerful for boosting brain health.
“One of the things that seems to be really important is just getting all of those areas to talk to each other in meaningful ways,” said Elizabeth Margulis, director of the lab and a trained pianist who wasn’t involved in this new study.
“That’s something music is exceptionally good at doing.”
Margulis said the study’s finding applies to listening to music as well as playing it. There was slightly less benefit associated with regularly playing music, with a 35% reduction in the risk of dementia, though the researchers suspect that’s because it’s a smaller group of people than those who regularly listen to music.
A takeaway is you don’t need to learn an instrument to benefit from engaging with music, though research has shown that taking lessons can increase grey matter in the brain, even for people who aren’t particularly skilled.
Music also has a transportive quality, Margulis said. If you listen to a song that you first heard during a certain time of life, you may find yourself transported back to that time, especially with the music you listened to in adolescence.
“That tends to be the music that people remember best and with which the most memories are associated,” she said, adding that adolescence often is the time when people are defining themselves, which gives that music added meaning.
This can even be seen in people who are experiencing cognitive decline or diseases like Alzheimer’s.
“They may not even recognise themselves in a mirror, they don’t know where they are or how they got there, but you put on a song from when they were 14, and they reconnect with that self they had lost,” said neuroscientist and musician Daniel Levitin, who also wasn’t involved in the new research.
Anecdotally, Margulis said, the effect seems to remain for a while even after they listen to the music.
“They’re a little more present, a little more able to interact,” Margulis said.
Music as medicine
Levitin has written a book, I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine, bringing together research about how music can be used as therapy for issues including depression, pain and neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s.
“Listening to music is neuroprotective,” said Levitin, explaining that it builds resiliency and protects the brain by wiring new neural pathways. “It’s a myth that you don’t grow new neurons… and throughout the lifespan, you’re growing new pathways.”
He said listening to music from the past can bring back memories and provide comfort, while there is also a benefit to hearing new music and challenging yourself. He also encourages people to play music.
He recalled giving his grandmother a keyboard for her 80th birthday and watching her practice almost every day until she died at 97. Levitin said for him, playing music brings an immersive joy.
But he emphasised that just being around music – whether that’s listening or playing it – shows benefits.
Study details
What Is the Association Between Music-Related Leisure Activities and Dementia Risk? A Cohort Study
Emma Jaffa, Zimu Wu, Alice Owen, Aung Azw Zaw Phyo, Robyn Woods, Suzanne. Orchard, Trevor Chong, Raj Shah, Anne Murray, Joanne Ryan.
Published in Geriatric Psychiatry on 14 October 2025
Abstract
Objectives
To determine whether engagement in music-related leisure activities is associated with a reduced risk of dementia and cognitive impairment no dementia (CIND), as well as better cognitive wellbeing in initially cognitively healthy older adults. Here, cognitive wellbeing includes maintaining good cognitive function as well as quality of life. Potential effect modification by education was also investigated.
Methods
This study used secondary data from the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) study, and the ASPREE Longitudinal Study of Older Persons (ALSOP) sub-study. Included were 10,893 community-dwelling Australian adults who were 70 years and older, without dementia diagnosis at recruitment to the study. Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to determine the association between level of music engagement (listening to music, playing an instrument, and a combination of both) and dementia risk from year 3 onwards. Linear mixed models were used to investigate the association with cognitive well-being. Analyses adjusted for age, gender and level of education completed.
Results
Always listening to music, compared with never/rarely/sometimes, was associated with a 39% decreased risk of dementia (95% CI = 0.45,0.82, p = 0.001), and a 17% decreased risk of CIND (95% CI = 0.74, 0.92, p = 0.001). Playing an instrument (often/always) was associated with a 35% decreased dementia risk only (95% CI = 0.42,0.99, p = 0.047). Participants who both listened to and played music had a 33% decreased dementia risk (95% CI = 0.51,0.89, p = 0.006) and a 22% decreased CIND risk (95% CI = 0.65,0.92, p = 0.004). Always listening to music was associated with better global cognition and memory over time (p < 0.001, p = 0.004, respectively), but not the other cognitive domains. Engagement in music-related activities was not associated with changes in subjective cognitive wellbeing. In general, findings were stronger in individuals with over 16 years of education.
Conclusion
These results highlight music as a potential promising, accessible strategy to help reduce cognitive impairment and delay the onset of dementia in later life.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Music therapy may reduce depressive symptoms
Simple meditation and music may help hold off memory loss
Learning music enhances cognitive abilities in children
Non-pharmacologic interventions for dementia patients with aggression symptoms
Playing instruments linked to better cognition – Scottish study