Whether we recognize it or not, music is all around us. It’s there to give us comfort after a breakup (we all have that one song that got us through) or to energize us when we need to finish that last set in the gym.
But what if music could be used as medicine?
When we put on our headphones and queue up our favorite playlists, our bodies and brains respond to the sounds.
Specifically, music activates different regions of our brain—such as the hippocampus and amygdala—that are related to our emotions, memories, pleasure, relaxation, motivation and reward.
Can we harness the power of music to help patients heal, remain calm during treatments and routine screenings, and promote healthier lifestyles?
Below are four innovative ways Mass General Brigham researchers are working to find out:
Everybody Hurts (Sometimes)
To reduce the uncomfortable feeling of pain, you may opt to take a painkiller. But what if there was a drug-free way to reduce pain and increase your pain tolerance?
Investigators at Mass General Brigham studied whether listening to music could alter how people perceive and respond to pain.
Sixty healthy volunteers underwent a series of pain tests, such as pinpricks and pressure on muscles.
They did this while listening—and then not listening—to a new music app that used machine learning techniques to develop optimally relaxing tracks based on pleasurable music genres.
The participants then answered questions about their mood and thoughts about pain and pain perception.
Participants reported they felt less pain and experienced higher pain tolerance when music was playing.
The researchers report that future studies are needed to understand whether these findings can extend to clinical settings to help with acute pain and chronic pain patients. More research is needed to test the effects of other types of music as well.
The same team also conducted a study in the emergency department (ED) among people with acute back pain, which demonstrated that listening to music improved pain and reduced anxiety while waiting to see a doctor.
Future studies are needed to better understand how music might be used to modulate pain, as well as to test the operational aspects of integrating a musical intervention into clinical pain care routines.
Under Pressure
Medical procedures—even preventive screenings and tests—can cause patients significant anxiety due to their unfamiliarity with the screening process and risk of receiving negative test results.
In a recent study, Mass General Brigham researchers sought to determine if listening to self-selected music during an image-guided breast biopsy could reduce anxiety in patients.
Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups (one group listened to self-selected music during the biopsy and one group did not).
Both groups completed an assessment of their anxiety before and after the biopsy.
While all participants reported a reduction in anxiety after the procedure was finished (likely due to the relief from being done with it), participants who listened to music during the procedure reported a greater reduction in anxiety levels compared to those who did not.
The findings suggest that music could be an easy-to-implement intervention to improve patient experience during breast biopsy.
Sweet Child O' Mine
Whether it is part of a predetermined birth plan or a medical necessity, cesarean deliveries can cause anxiety in expecting mothers.
The goal of a recent Mass General Brigham study was to determine if listening to self-selected music could reduce anxiety in participants undergoing a scheduled cesarean delivery.
Participants were randomly assigned to listen to pre-selected music by Mozart, self-selected music on the Pandora app, or no music during the procedure.
The researchers measured anxiety levels pre- and post-surgery and found that mothers who listened to pre-selected Mozart had lower anxiety levels than those who listened to self-selected music or no music.
Baby Love
The neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) can be a stressful environment for preterm babies due to painful but necessary tests and procedures, disruption of their sleep cycle, separation from their parents and loud noises.
These combined stressors can affect neurodevelopment in this vulnerable population.
A team of researchers from Mass General Brigham reviewed published studies on using music in NICUs as an intervention to reduce stress and improve neurodevelopment.
The researchers found that carefully designed recorded music interventions appear to be safe, feasible and effective in reducing infant stress and improving neurodevelopment of hospitalized infants.
More trials are needed to further refine the best elements for using music to reduce stress in preterm babies, the researchers conclude.
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