Adele's 'Rolling in the Deep' brings girl out of coma. Possible?

Its one of those stories that almost sounds like an Onion article headline: Adeles voice has coaxed a little girl out of a coma.

Reports surfaced this week about 7-year-old Charlotte Neve of Lancashire, England, who suffered a brain hemorrage and lapsed into a coma earlier this year. After the girl underwent two operations to stop bleeding in the brain, Neves mother, Leila, was told to say her goodbyes.

But when Adeles hit song Rolling in the Deep suddenly began playing on the radio a song that Leila and Charlotte had sung together Leila began to sing it to her daughter, and Charlotte began to smile. Within two days, according to the Daily Mail, she had started speaking and getting up from bed.

Wild coincidence or a testament to the power of the British belters songs? Researchers have for decades touted musics positive effects on the brains of comatose patients but aside from the occasional Adelesque miracle, evidence that it could help bring patients out of a vegetative state is scant at best.

But perhaps the fact that patients may be able to hear -- and process -- outside information is the key part of the story here. A fascinating profile this month in Nature exploring the work of neuroscientist Adrian Owen delves into the case of Owens patient 23 a young man, comatose for five years, who was apparently able to answer questions posed to him about his life, even in his unconscious state.

Owen was apparently even able to bring a woman named Kate Bainbridge out of a coma, partly by showing her images of familiar faces causing the parts of the brain that sto! re such information to light up.

So Adeles power to awaken the lost might just might have some truth to it. Though its equally possible that it wasnt the power of the song but the emotional link it represented between Charlotte and her mother, that helped pull Charlotte back into consciousness. Until theres a study to prove or disprove it, Charlottes story will remain a medical mystery with a happy ending.

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