A university lecturer has started the region's first choir for people with aphasia.
The University of East Anglia's (UEA) Elissa Manzi, a speech and language therapy lecturer, has launched the choir.
Aphasia refers to a language disorder, often resulting from a stroke or brain injury.
The Norwich Aphasia Choir, supported by UEA speech and language therapy (SLT) students and Heather Edwards as accompanist, aims to assist those impacted by aphasia.
Ms Manzi shared her vision that the choir will increase through wider community participation.
She said: “We decided to start this choir as we felt it would be valuable for people with aphasia in the local community, as well as providing extra clinical experience and learning for our speech and language therapy students."
Available evidence suggests participation in aphasia choirs may elevate mood and well-being.
The initiative offers a unique social opportunity, supplementing the shortfall often reported by people affected by aphasia.
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Third-year student, Katie Fletcher, said: “I'm really enjoying being able to gain more experience working with people who have aphasia, being able to increase their quality of life and develop my conversational skills."
More than 350,000 people in the UK suffer from aphasia, impacting their comprehension, self-expression, reading and writing.
However, music aptitude is often retained despite their condition, engaging both brain hemispheres as music is processed by the human brain.
Second-year student, Sophie Borzak, said: "It's also been very wholesome seeing everyone genuinely having a lovely time laughing and singing along.”
Heather Ogden, another second-year student, added: “It is fantastic to be able to put our learning about different communication techniques into practice by supporting those with aphasia in the choir."
The choir rehearses on the second and fourth Friday of each month at the Millennium Library at The Forum in Norwich.
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