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Artificial intelligence (AI) is now at the center of a growing shift in neurological research. Scientists and neuroscientists are using AI to reframe music as more than entertainment. In this context, music is becoming a clinical tool designed to support neurological care. They combine data, timing, and personalization. The focus is on understanding each patient’s needs in real time. From there, the system delivers the right music at the moment it can help most.

At the University of Melbourne, a new approach is taking shape. Professor Felicity Baker is leading the Matchplus.ai project, bringing together neuroscience, music, and technology. Recently, the initiative gained major momentum after securing $1.3 million in funding from Google. With this support, her team is developing wearable sensors to predict agitation in people living with dementia.

Read the full article at ravecolony.com

Professor Felicity Baker, who runs the Matchplus.ai project at the University of Melbourne, secured $1.3 million from Google to build wearable sensors that predict when dementia patients will become agitated. Her AI-powered system detects physiological changes five to 15 minutes before problematic behavior occurs, then automatically plays personalized music to prevent the episode.

Baker’s team was selected from over 800 applicants competing for Google’s philanthropic funding, according to Tuned Global.

“We’re using wearables to actually develop algorithms that can predict when someone is going to start wandering or is going to get up and have a fall or hit another resident in the nursing home,” Baker said in a statement shared with EDM.com.

The technology could reduce reliance on psychotropic medications in aged care facilities. The harder problem, Baker says, involves teaching AI which songs to select, how to sequence them and how to adjust for different neurological symptoms.

Read the Full Article on edm.com

MATCH researcher Dr Zara Thompson appeared on the program ‘The Art Of...’ in the episode titled "Memory" (Season 2 Episode 7) alongside members of the Rewire Musical Memories Choir, exploring the science and lived experience of how music can support memory for people living with dementia and their friends and families.

Watch the Full Episode on ABC iView: https://iview.abc.net.au/video/AC2413H007S00

If you’d like to learn more about this, you can read about research by Dr Thompson and other MATCH team members Professor Felicity Baker and A/Prof Felicity Baker here: 

https://voices.no/index.php/voices/article/view/3491 

https://doi.org/10.1093/jmt/thae008 

https://doi.org/10.1080/01924788.2022.2056682 

We’re thrilled to share highlights from our time at SXSW 2025, where our founder, Felicity Baker, discussed the future of AI in music therapy.

With approximately only one music therapist for every 2,000 people living with dementia, Felicity highlights how AI can bridge this gap by providing recommendations for music intervention techniques to reduce agitation when music therapists may be unavailable. She envisions a future where tools like MATCHplus can help care staff assist patients during off-hours, such as helping a restless patient return to bed in the middle of the night, giving care teams a sophisticated new way to support residents, at any hour of the day.

Watch the full video on Youtube

MATCH team members Felicity Baker, Jeanette Tamplin, Zara Thompson, Phoebe Stretton-Smith, Bec Watt, Ajay Castelino, Hayley Antipas, Gab Guo, and Ashleigh Rowbottom presented several papers on different aspects of the project. Music Therapy and AI were a hot topic at the conference.

https://www.austmta.org.au/news-and-events/50th-anniversary/

MATCH researcher Dr Zara Thompson was featured on 10News+, talking about the science of why singing in a community choir helps people living with dementia and care-partners  

At SXSW Sydney 2025, the Asia-Pacific’s premier convergence of technology, creativity, and culture, Felicity Baker joined global leaders on the panel “Prescribing Music: Innovation in Healthcare and Wellness” to discuss the future of personalised music interventions in health. The session highlighted MATCH as a pioneering example of how AI and music therapy research are transforming dementia care and digital health innovation. 

In hospitals across the globe, a revolutionary shift is taking place. Music is no longer just background ambiance or entertainment—it’s being prescribed as medicine.

From operating rooms to psychiatric wards, rehabilitation centers to hospice care, sound is emerging as one of the most powerful therapeutic tools in modern healthcare. But this isn’t just about emotional comfort or psychological support. The science reveals something far more profound: music transforms us at the cellular level.

The Science Behind Sound: From Vibration to Cellular Transformation

Music is not merely an abstract artistic expression floating through the air. It is physics in motion—a series of mechanical waves that create vibration, and vibration is fundamentally electromagnetic. When we understand that our bodies are electromagnetic systems—our neurons firing electrical signals, our hearts generating electromagnetic fields detectable several feet away, our cells communicating through bioelectrical impulses—we begin to grasp why music has such profound physiological effects.

Read the full article on pophits.com

Also featured on indiemusic.news

Publication Alert: 

We are proud to share the latest MATCH publication – the results of our first MATCH proof-of-concept study. This study reports the findings from our very first trial of the MATCH App in community settings, with people living with dementia and family caregivers.  
 
📱 MATCH was acceptable and useful for family caregivers 
🧠 MATCH helped with mood, personal care, connection and cognition  
 
Since this study, we have also completed our first trial of MATCH in residential aged care, and are about to launch our next stage of research - a feasibility study coming soon! 

Read the full Publication here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20552076251379768