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Voices from families and loved ones telling familiar stories can help people come out of a coma, according to new research. Neuroscientists at Northwestern Medicine and Hines VA Hospital found that when patients heard the voice of a family member reciting stories while they were in an MRI, they showed increased brain activity, eventually leading to an earlier wake. Theresa Pape, lead author of the research paper, told Today: "Not only can they hear you but listening to the stories ...helps the brain heal". "What I think is going on is that we are exercising the networks in the brain ...by listening to the stories we're making the networks work and exercise. By exercising them we think that's helping them heal".