Parkinson's is the 2nd most prevalent neurological disease. As it progresses, patients become more challenged in their daily activities and independence.

The agency conducted a research on unmet needs. We realized that drug therapy and neurological surgery are effective and improve many of the Parkinson's symptoms. Except one: the Parkinson's gait.

In fact, due to the damaged neurons in the motor brain area, Parkinson's patients "forget" how to walk – it no longer is automatic.

Fortunately, we also came across an exciting new approach to help Parkinson's patients with walking difficulties: MUSIC. More specifically, the use of rhythmic patterns as auditory stimuli.

Music provides rhythm for patients to control their steps. It promotes new neural connections in healthy areas of the brain. And releases dopamine – a natural chemical involved in pleasure and motor control.

Science and music were already there. We just had to connect them.

Welcome to PARKINSOUNDS.

PARKINSOUNDS was developed in partnership with Spotify. It's based on a free app that runs in seamless integration with a Spotify API.

By design, PARKINSOUNDS is meant to be friendly, personal and accessible. The app is very simple and consists in 3 steps.

1. PARKINSOUNDS helps patients find their ideal pace. Every patient has a walking speed that responds best to the music therapy, and a built-in digital metronome helps finding it.

2. Once the ideal pace is saved, PARKINSOUNDS automatically selects the songs that match that beat, from any Spotify playlist. So patients have millions of songs to choose from.

3. PARKINSOUNDS is able to add audio cues to the patient’s favorite songs – enhancing the beat, in order to make the songs more functional from a rehabilitation perspective.

PARKINSOUNDS has a dedicated channel on Spotify. The client is also driving the use of PARKINSOUNDS via doctor recommendation, during sales calls and through direct marketing. Vouchers for premium Spotify access are being distributed to patients and relatives. Finally, PARKINSOUNDS is also being promoted to major patient associations and advocacy groups in Brazil.

Results seem very promising. Doctors' and physiotherapists' feedback has been amazing – they see the value in the idea and recognize the results in their patients. Client considers PARKINSOUNDS as a unique differentiator in a crowded and stagnant market. Spotify is happy to see their platform leveraged for a new purpose. Most importantly, it's touching to see the patients' reactions as they recover their old ability to walk – and to the sound of their favorite songs.