Michael Thaut

Dr. Michael H. Thaut, PhD, is currently a Professor of Music at the University of Toronto with cross-appointments  in Rehabilitation Science and Neuroscience.  He also holds appointments as Collaborator Scientist at the CAMH Neuroimaging Research Center and as Affiliate Scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael’ Hospital, Toronto.. He is Director of the Music and Health Science Research Center (MAHRC) and Music and Health Sciences Graduate programs at the University of Toronto.  
 
Dr. Thaut received his Master’s and PhD in Music from Michigan State University, with a cognate minor in movement science. He holds a special diploma in music from the Mozarteum University in Salzburg/Austria and a German Diplom in Psychology/Education from the University of Muenster. 
 
Dr. Thaut is an international research eader in the neuroscience of music and the applications of auditory neuroscience to neurological rehabilitation. He has over 200  scientific publications and is the co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Music Psychology, first editor of the Oxford Handbook of Music and Brain Research and the Oxford Handbook of Neurologic Music Therapy. He is the president of the International Society for Clinical Neuromusicology and Vice President of the International Society for Music and Medicine.
 
He and his team developed the clinical system of Neurological Music Therapy, which is applied worldwide in neurorehabilitation, and endorsed as evidence-based by the World Federation of Neurorehabilitation.

Recent Publications

1. Koshimori Y, Strafella A, Valli M, Sharma V, Cho S, Houle S, Thaut MH. 2019. Motor synchronization to rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) attenuates dopaminergic responses in ventral striatum in young healthy adults: a [11C]-(+)-PHNO PET study. Frontiers in Neuroscience, doi 10.3389/fnins.2019.00106
2. Schaffert N, Braun Janzen T, Mattes K, Thaut MH. 2019. A review of the relationship between sound and movement in sports and rehabilitation. Frontiers in Psychology, doi 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00244
3. Buard I, Dewispelaere W, Thaut MH, Kluger B. 2019. Neurophysiological evidence for altered cortical activity and connectivity with Neurologic Music Therapy in Parkinson’s disease.  Frontiers in Neuroscience, doi.org/103389/fnins.2019.00105
4.  Braunlich K, Seger CA, Jentink KG, Buard I, Kluger BM, Thaut MH. 2018. Rhythmic auditory cues shape neural network recruitment in Parkinson’s disease during repetitive motor behavior. European Journal of Neuroscience, DOI:10.1111/EJN.14227
5. Thaut MH, Rice RR, Braun Janzen T, Hurt Thaut CP, McIntosh GC. 2018. Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation for Reduction of Falls in Parkinson’s Disease: A Randomized Controlled Study. Clinical Rehabilitation, doi10.1177/0269215518788615

Honours & Awards

• 2017 | Canada Research Chair Tier I 
• 2015 | Overseas Fellow Royal Society of Medicine U.K. 
• 2007 | President International Society for Clinical Neuromusicology