Equipment

You don’t need any new equipment to enjoy your playlist.

CDs, cassettes, a record player – they are all fine. Some people simply pin the list itself to the wall – then visitors know the best tunes to sing!

Headphones or speakers?

Use whatever is best for you – and remember you may want different things on different days. 

Speakers are simple, and make it easy for everyone to listen together. Headphones can be good if you want to listen in a crowded space or block out background noise-  helpful if your dementia is making it hard to distinguish between sounds.

Things to look for:

• Padded, wipeable, over-ear headphones – not the little ‘buds’ that go inside your ear.
• Lightness and flexibility in the joint between the earpiece and the headband, and how much padding there is. All headphones are not the same.
• A ‘splitter cable’ to listen with other people. It lets you plug in two (or more) sets of headphones at once. 

The internet – streaming and downloading

Music accessed through the internet can be a good option if you would like access to millions of tunes or if you want to make your playlist portable.

If you decide you would like to give it a try, the key thing is to decide whether you want to use ‘downloading’ or ‘streaming’. This quick video explains the difference and helps you decide which is best for you.