Overview

• The SINFONIA trial enrolled 101 Australians with COPD or ILD, assigning 50 to weekly 90‑minute online group singing over 12 weeks and 51 to usual care.
• Quality‑of‑life scores on the SF‑36 were 7.4 points higher with singing than with usual care, increasing to 11 points for participants who attended at least eight sessions.
• Greater gains were reported among women, people with anxiety or depression, and those who had not previously completed pulmonary rehabilitation.
• Sessions on Zoom were led by a registered music therapist with warmups, breathing exercises, song singing, and social check‑ins; participants were loaned iPads and given data plans to ease access.
• Presenting the data in Amsterdam, Prof Natasha Smallwood noted that mechanisms remain unclear and called for larger studies, as ERS and Asthma and Lung UK leaders welcomed the approach as a potential adjunct to care.